Solution

In the past two years, under the strict requirements of Amazon, AliExpress, and other cross-border platforms, French EPR has become a compliance policy that sellers must follow when conducting business in France. Sellers who meet the conditions must comply with the requirements. Upload the French EPR's unique identification code UIN number to the platform . Products that do not meet the requirements will be removed from the shelves or even restricted from sale.

New changes in French EPR in 2024

The French EPR includes the largest number of categories among all countries requiring EPR compliance, including: Packaging Law, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Law, Battery Law, Printing Law, Furniture Law, Textile Law, Tire Law, DIY and Gardening 12 fields including tool law and toy law.

This year, the French Congress and Senate passed Decree No. 2023-305. This revision mainly integrates the extended responsibilities of household packaging and paper product producers. After the implementation of the new regulations, France will no longer need to separately register the EPR for paper product categories (except books), but will merge this category into the French packaging category. The legal content also emphasizes that this change will take effect at the company's next contract renewal, starting from January 1, 2024 at the latest.

 How will sellers be affected after the category merger ?

1）Expected to reduce French EPR registration costs

After the French ERP printing paper products are merged into the packaging law, for non-book products, starting from 2024, sellers no longer need to separately register an EPR number for the printing paper category, which will effectively reduce the seller's expenses in the registration process .

2) The waste declaration amount under the Packaging Act may increase

Since the category of printed paper products is included in the category of packaging waste, sellers must also include the printed paper products they sell when declaring French packaging waste. This may lead to an increase in packaging waste declarations by sellers.

How to determine which category a product should be registered for?

According to French EPR policy requirements, sellers need to register EPR for the categories of goods they sell in France. Things to note are:

1. Because all products are packaged, sellers must register the EPR for the packaging category;

2. If your product is related to batteries in addition to packaging, then you also need to register the EPR of the battery-packaging + battery;

3. If your product is not only related to batteries, but also to electronic equipment, then you need to register for the three categories of EPR: packaging, batteries and WEEE.

AGC reminder

The end of the year has arrived, and French EPR registration will take a certain amount of time. It is recommended that sellers plan their applications in advance, complete the registration and declaration of packaging law, WEEE, battery law and other related categories, and do a good job in compliance risk control.