From 12 August 2026 the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) applies across the EU. Core requirements that come into force include packaging minimisation principles, Declaration of Conformity obligations (where you are the manufacturer), restrictions on substances of concern, and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) registration/reporting/fees in each Member State where you first make packaged goods available.
eBay and Amazon are already collecting LUCID / French UIN-style numbers in some markets. From 12 August the platforms have a clearer duty to verify that sellers are registered. Sellers who have been shipping without any EPR registration will start hitting listing restrictions or blocks for the countries where proof is missing.
For genuine micro-sellers (a couple of items a month to the EU) the fixed cost and admin of staying compliant in even two or three countries usually exceeds the profit. Many will simply turn off EU shipping. The platforms are not absorbing the obligation — they require the seller to prove compliance or lose the sales channel.
Two weeks left. A larger wave of “I can no longer ship to the EU” posts is likely once verification tightens. Further packaging and product rules are already lined up for later years as well.
Sad times for small sellers
EDIT:
Important clarification: these rules are not limited to UK or non-EU sellers. They also apply to cross-border sales inside the EU. A seller in France shipping packaged goods directly to a buyer in Germany (or any other Member State) becomes the packaging producer in the destination country and needs the relevant national EPR registration there. The obligation is triggered by where the packaging is first made available, not by the seller’s nationality or location. Many people still assume this only affects third-country sellers — that is incorrect.
The EU still bangs on about its “Think Small First” principle as if it means something. In reality they have spent years ignoring their own policy. Rules like the PPWR apply from the first parcel with no real exemption for genuine micro or hobby sellers operating on thin margins. The only “micro-enterprise” definition they use (under 10 staff and under €2 million turnover) barely helps — it gives a few narrow carve-outs on reuse targets and little else. Most national packaging EPR schemes either have no volume threshold at all or ones so low they are irrelevant. So the fixed costs and multi-country admin simply wipe out low-volume cross-border sales, whether you’re in the UK or already inside the EU. They are actively breaking the principle they claim to follow, and the only people who can survive it are the ones big enough to absorb the compliance burden. Something clearly does not add up.
And just to put another nail in the coffin, from 1 July 2026 the EU also scrapped the old €150 duty-free threshold on low-value parcels from outside the bloc. In its place sits a temporary €3 customs duty per item, with handling fees of around €2 per parcel already appearing in several countries and an EU-wide version expected later this year. So on top of the packaging EPR registrations, reporting and fees, small sellers now face extra per-parcel customs charges that further erode any remaining margin on low-volume EU sales.
