Am I the “producer” of my packaging?
Answered case by case: a shipping label, a logo sticker, a reused box, newspaper. Where the law has not decided, this page says so instead of guessing.
Written 13 August 2026. Not legal advice.
Find your case
| What you do | Are you the producer? |
|---|---|
| You post packaged goods to a customer in an EU country | Yes. Every country you post to |
| You buy plain, unbranded boxes from a supplier at home | Yes. Who made the box is not the question |
| You stick your own logo on the box | Yes, and probably the manufacturer too |
| You reuse the box your supplier's goods arrived in | Yes, for wherever you post it |
| You wrap in newspaper | Yes. If it stops the thing breaking, it is packaging |
| You send four parcels a year to one country | Yes. There is no minimum. None |
| You are a dropshipper and never touch the goods | Probably, though not for the reason you have read |
| You add nothing but the carrier's shipping label | Nobody knows |
Why the two definitions differ
First to put the packaging on a country's market — producer there. That is Article 3(1)(15), and it applies “irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance contracts” — the drafters had online sellers in mind.
Most people are reading the wrong definition. There are two, and they sound the same:
| Term | The test | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer Art 3(1)(13) |
Whose name or trademark the packaging carries | The one people assume applies to them |
| Producer Art 3(1)(15) |
Who first makes the packaging available on a national market | The one that creates the registration duty |
You can be the producer without being the manufacturer. The question is not who made the box — it is who first put it on the market in the country the parcel is going to.
Does a shipping label make me the producer?
Nobody knows. The German register has not ruled. The law firms hedge. Anyone answering flatly is guessing.
It rarely matters anyway. Post to an EU customer and you are usually the producer already, label or no label. The label only decides the narrow case where someone else has already put that packaging on that same market.
A seller, writing to a German law firm in August 2026:
Am I a manufacturer if I wrap something in newspaper? Serious question: am I allowed to wrap something in newspaper and ship it? Translated from German, IT-Recht Kanzlei comments, 10 August 2026
Each case in full
I buy plain boxes from a domestic supplier and add nothing
Still the producer, in every country you post to. Your supplier put the box on your market; you are putting it on theirs.
I put my own logo sticker on the box
Producer, and now probably manufacturer as well. Branding brings you inside Article 3(1)(13) too. No second registration — the producer duty was already there — but it removes any argument that you are only a distributor.
I reuse the box my supplier's goods arrived in
Producer. The test is which market, not whether the box is new. It was licensed once, by someone else, somewhere else — that does nothing for the country you are posting to.
I wrap in newspaper, or use no packaging at all
Newspaper is packaging. If it stops the thing breaking, it counts. Genuinely unpackaged goods sit outside the rules — a short list, and one strip of tape puts you back on it.
I am a dropshipper and never touch the goods
Germany's register has said “as a dropshipper you are not a manufacturer”. Do not read too much into it: that is the German manufacturer test, not the producer test in each country you sell into — and the same register says the moment title changes hands is not what decides it.
Is there a small-seller exemption?
No. Article 44 sets no minimum turnover, weight or parcel count. Four parcels a year carries the same duty as four hundred thousand.
The old national thresholds people quote — usually the Dutch 50,000 kg one — are not a shield any more. Much of the guidance online has not caught up.
Which countries need an authorised representative?
All of them, except the one you are established in. There is no list of exempt countries because there are none — Article 45(3), per country. The useful question is which ones earn back what they cost. We built a calculator for it.
Hasn't this been suspended?
No. It applies today.
The Commission proposed suspending Article 45(3) until 2035 in December 2025. It has not passed: the Council would not rush it through in June, and Parliament's environment committee wants it cut to firms under 50 staff and €10m turnover, voting 1 October 2026.
The part almost everyone misses: the suspension was written for producers already established in the EU. Outside the bloc, it does nothing for you even if it passes. Read any reassurance carefully for the words EU companies.
What happens if I ignore it?
Germany's new packaging law carries fines up to €200,000. In practice most small sellers will meet a marketplace before a regulator — a suspended listing or withheld payout does the damage first.
One caveat: a 2026 study found national registers have no APIs and no automated way to check a registration number, so some delisting warnings are ahead of what platforms can actually do. An observation about enforcement, not a suggestion you ignore the law.
There is a way to not be the producer at all
Everything above assumes you stay the producer, paying country by country. The other shape: someone in the EU buys each order from you and resells it, so they do the registering and you do not. That is Frontdoor.
See how it worksSources, with what each one says
- Regulation (EU) 2025/40. Article 3(1)(15) defines the producer as the party first making packaging available on a member state's market “irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance contracts”. Article 3(1)(13) defines the manufacturer by name or trademark. Article 44 sets the registration duty and no threshold. Article 45(3) sets the representative duty.
- COM(2025) 982, the Environmental Omnibus, 10 December 2025. The proposal to suspend Article 45(3) until 2035. Still a proposal.
- EXPRA, 29 June 2026. The Parliament's environment committee wants the suspension narrowed to firms under 50 staff and €10m turnover, kept strictly temporary, and tied to the Circular Economy Act. The committee vote is listed for 1 October 2026.
- Coolset and ecosistant both record the point that decides this for most readers of this page: the proposed suspension covers producers already established in the EU. Sellers outside the EU are not in scope, and for them the 12 August 2026 date stands whether the proposal passes or not.
- Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (ZSVR), Germany. The source of “Als Dropshipper sind Sie kein Hersteller”, and of the position that the moment of transfer of title “kommt es maßgeblich nicht an”, meaning it is not what decides the question.
- IT-Recht Kanzlei's guide and its comment thread. Where the newspaper question above was asked on 10 August 2026, and where the firm's answers on the shipping label remain hedged. Worth reading if you have German; it is the most responsive free help anyone is getting.
- A 2026 study of registration across ten member states. The source for national registers having no APIs and no automated way to verify a registration number, which is why some delisting warnings are ahead of what platforms can actually check.
- The European Commission's public consultation on the PPWR, open 6 August to 10 September 2026. Several thousand first-person submissions from sellers in exactly this position. If you are affected, it is worth twenty minutes of your own.
Where this page says something is unsettled, that is the position on 13 August 2026. If you need a binding answer on your own facts, get one from a lawyer in the country concerned. This page is here to help you ask a better question, not to replace that.