With the new amendments to the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Regulation, Sweden is clearly demonstrating how producer responsibility can be comprehensively implemented. The Swedish government has decided to make fundamental changes to the EPR regulation for packaging, which have been fully effective since 2024. The changes to the law affect a wide range of stakeholders. Why all this? Sweden is pursuing a major goal: recycling is to be made easier and more efficient in order to save raw materials and reduce CO2 emissions.

France has taken a pioneering step towards sustainable eco-design as part of the Circular Economy Act (AGEC). According to this regulation, all companies that place products on the market in at least one of twelve different EPR areas are obliged to submit prevention and eco-design plans.

Since 2023, there have been important changes for retailers who ship their products to Austria. The reason for this is the comprehensive reform of packaging legislation in Austria, which parallels the changes already implemented in Germany. In this article, we highlight the main changes that have applied to foreign retailers shipping to Austria since January 2023.

Since January 2023, there have been significant changes in the area of packaging labelling in Spain. The previous obligation to affix the Green Dot (“Der Grüne Punkt”) symbol to packaging no longer applies. Since then, companies have been able to choose whether they want to use this symbol on their packaging. This new regulation brings advantages for exporters to Spain, as they are now exempt from the previous licence fees and administrative costs.

The changes to the Austrian Packaging Ordinance are currently also attracting a great deal of interest among German retailers. The main reason for this is a significant innovation: since 1 January 2023, foreign retailers who ship products to Austria and do not have a branch there must appoint an official authorized representative. However, this requirement is not only valid in Austria; similar regulations also exist in other EU countries. We shed light on the countries in which the appointment of an authorized representative is required for shipping and what consequences this has for you.

International deliveries play a crucial role in global economic growth, especially for the e-commerce sector. This aspect has also been recognised by the European Union, which is why it has adapted its tax regulations accordingly since July 2021. These adjustments not only entail the fulfilment of certain requirements, for example from the German Packaging Act (VerpackG) or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), but also impose additional obligations on retailers who ship products to end consumers within the EU.