The Commission’s Proposal

The Commission’s proposal COM(2025) 982, would suspend Article 45(3) of PPWR (Regulation (EU) 2025/40) until 1 January 2035. During that period, EU-established producers would not be required to appoint a national AR in markets where they are not established. They could choose to do so voluntarily, but the obligation would be lifted.

For producers established outside the EU, the original proposal gave each Member State the option to accept alternative verification methods rather than requiring a formal AR appointment.

What the European Parliament’s Lead Reviewer Has Proposed Instead

On 28 May 2026, Ingeborg Ter Laak, the European Parliament member leading the Environment Committee (ENVI) review of this proposal, published her draft report (ENVI_PR(2026)788916) with sixteen amendments. Her position reshapes the Commission’s proposal in four directions.

1. The suspension would apply to small and micro businesses only

The most significant change limits the suspension to producers that meet the EU’s definition of a microenterprise or small enterprise under Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC:

• Microenterprises: fewer than 10 employees, annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding €2 million
• Small enterprises: fewer than 50 employees, annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding €10 million

Medium-sized businesses (up to 250 employees, up to €50 million turnover) and large companies would keep the mandatory AR requirement in full. The MEP’s reasoning is practical: larger companies already have compliance teams and legal resources. Small and micro businesses are the ones that genuinely struggle to manage multiple national appointments at once.

2. The suspension would end when the Circular Economy Act becomes law

The draft adds a sunset clause: the suspension ends on whichever date comes first, 1 January 2035 or the date the Circular Economy Act (CEA) enters into force.

The Circular Economy Act is a major piece of EU environmental legislation that the Commission is currently preparing. The MEP’s draft links the end of the AR suspension specifically to the moment the CEA is officially adopted into law, not to when its rules start applying in practice. In EU legislation, there is typically a gap of one or two years between a law being adopted and its provisions becoming operative. This means the suspension window could effectively be shorter than the 2035 backstop date implies: if the CEA becomes law in, say, 2029, the AR suspension could end at that point even if the CEA’s substantive rules do not apply until 2031.

The Commission has indicated it plans to present the CEA proposal in Q3 2026, with full adoption unlikely before 2028-2029 at the earliest. Producers designing their 2028 compliance architecture around the suspension being in place should factor in this uncertainty.

3. Non-EU producers: no change

The MEP’s draft deletes the provision that would have allowed Member States to accept alternative verification methods for producers established outside the EU. For any producer based outside the EU that sells packaged goods on the EU Single Market, the mandatory AR requirement under PPWR stays exactly as it is.

Company size makes no difference here. The MEP’s reasoning: producers based outside the EU are beyond the reach of EU enforcement mechanisms, and a named, locally accountable representative is the only practical way to hold them to their obligations.

4. The suspension covers only the AR appointment, not the underlying EPR obligations

A further amendment makes clear that lifting the AR obligation does not lift any of the other producer obligations. A micro-enterprise that does not appoint a national AR cannot use that as grounds to skip registering with a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO), the collective scheme that manages packaging waste collection and recycling in each country, or to avoid contributing to EPR fees. Every PPWR producer obligation remains in place. Only the requirement to appoint a representative is suspended.

What This Means for You

If you are a small or micro EU-established producer:

You are the intended beneficiary of the suspension. If the regulation is adopted as the MEP proposes, you would not be required to appoint national ARs in countries where you sell but are not established. You could still do so voluntarily. The relief would last until the Circular Economy Act becomes law or until 1 January 2035, whichever comes first.

If you are a medium or large EU-established producer:

You are the intended beneficiary of the suspension. If the regulation is adopted as the MEP proposes, you would not be required to appoint national ARs in countries where you sell but are not established. You could still do so voluntarily. The relief would last until the Circular Economy Act becomes law or until 1 January 2035, whichever comes first.

If you are a non-EU producer:

The mandatory AR requirement applies in full in every Member State where you make packaging or packaged products available. Act on the basis of current law.

What to Do Now

The draft report is the MEP’s individual position. It still needs to go through a committee vote, potentially a Council position, and negotiations between Parliament and Council before anything is final. The PPWR becomes applicable on August 12, 2026. If the suspension is not formally adopted before that date, the AR obligation applies in full from day one, regardless of what happens afterwards.

If you are a micro or small EU-established producer: Do not dismantle existing AR arrangements yet. Watch for the ENVI Committee vote and check with your national PRO whether it accepts direct voluntary registration without a formal AR mandate in the meantime.

If you are a medium or large EU-established producer: Plan for full AR compliance from August 12, 2026. Your AR contracts need to be signed, your mandates in place, and your registration dossiers with each national producer register complete before the application date.

If you are a non-EU producer: Treat the current law as applying in full. Appoint ARs in every market where you sell packaged goods.

For everyone: the Circular Economy Act is now the file most likely to determine the long-term future of the AR requirement. Following its progress is the most effective way to plan ahead.

How PAQR can help

Regardless of how the authorised representative question is resolved, producers still need to know exactly what packaging they have placed on the market, in which quantities and formats, in each country. That data is what feeds your annual EPR reporting, and it is your responsibility to have it structured and accurate.

PAQR gives you a central workspace to organise your packaging data by format and market, so that when annual EPR reporting requires accurate quantities and categories, the information is ready. Learn more at PAQR Solution.

Click “Try now for free” on paqr.com to start a free trial.