EU EPR One-Stop Shop: What It Means for Producers

Why EPR Registration Is Complex Right Now

Under PPWR, a producer is the economic operator who is first to make packaged goods available in a specific EU Member State. That producer must register in the national producer register of every Member State where they operate. For companies placing packaged goods across multiple EU markets, that means managing multiple separate national processes.

Research published by Amazon in May 2026 puts specific numbers to that fragmentation. Across ten EU countries, Amazon identified 64 unique registration data fields, with each country requiring an average of sixteen. More than half of those fields are country-specific, and roughly 72% of current requirements go beyond what is mandated in the PPWR. Completing a registration can take anywhere from two to six weeks per country, and in several Member States the process can only be completed by the producer or an authorised representative.

Authentication systems vary significantly across Member States. Some require national electronic credentials; others rely on email-based processes, including cases involving offline forms and signed contracts. Registration portals are frequently available in local languages only. Several countries, including Italy and Spain, require dual registration with both a national government registry and a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO), adding further steps to an already complex process.

For producers operating across multiple markets, the cumulative administrative burden is considerable.

What the Proposed EU EPR One-Stop Shop Would Do

The coalition describes the proposed platform as a single digital point of entry for all mandated EPR schemes in the EU. Producers, or organisations acting on their behalf, would input EPR-relevant data once. That data would then be validated, translated where needed, and accessed by PROss and the competent authorities and registers in each relevant Member State.

In short: one submission, made available to the national systems that need it, rather than a separate process in each country. This model mirrors the EU’s existing VAT OSS system. Under VAT OSS, companies declare and pay VAT for all EU sales through a single online portal in one member state, while the system handles the distribution.

The proposed EPR One-Stop Shop would handle data the same way: you upload your packaging metrics once, and the platform routes it to the correct national registers and Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs). The coalition envisions the platform as voluntary, designed to be user-friendly across a diverse range of companies and business models.

The coalition emphasises that digitalisation of EPR compliance and monitoring has been underused as a policy tool, even as complexity in the EPR landscape has grown. The European Commission indicated its intention to explore a digital one-stop shop for EPR as part of the Single Market Strategy, published in May 2025; the coalition is now calling for that commitment to become a concrete legislative proposal in the Circular Economy Act.

The signatories have committed to delivering detailed recommendations to the Commission on the features the platform would need in order to function effectively.

What This Would Mean for Producers

The most direct impact of a functioning one-stop shop would be a reduction in the time, cost, and process complexity of registering across multiple Member States. Producers currently placing packaged goods in multiple EU markets must manage as many separate registration systems. Under the proposed model, the initial data submission happens once.

The coalition identifies particular benefits for smaller producers and cross-border e-commerce sellers, who currently face the greatest proportional burden from fragmented processes, including the cost of appointing authorised representatives in multiple markets.

One thing the proposed one-stop shop does not change: the underlying data that EPR registration and reporting requires. Producers will still need to know what packaging they are placing on the EU market, in which quantities and categories, and keep that information accurate for annual reporting. A simplified registration portal makes having structured, current packaging data more important, not less, because that data now feeds a single submission point with broader reach.

Manufacturers of packaging or packaged goods subject to PPWR will also continue to carry Declaration of Conformity obligations and the full Annex VII technical documentation requirements that sit alongside EPR. The one-stop shop proposal addresses registration and reporting infrastructure; it does not alter the compliance documentation picture.

Where Things Stand

The joint statement is an industry call to the Commission, not a legislative outcome. The Circular Economy Act has not yet been published, and the scope and form of any one-stop shop will depend on the final text. For current EPR registration requirements, refer to the national producer registers in each relevant Member State and the official PPWR text on EUR-Lex.

Companies with EPR obligations across multiple EU markets should monitor the progress of the Circular Economy Act and the Commission’s response to the coalition’s recommendations.

How PAQR helps

A digital one-stop shop simplifies how and where producers submit EPR data. The underlying data still needs to be structured and accurate before any submission is possible: what packaging you have placed on the market, in which formats and categories, with what documentation behind it.

PAQR gives you a central workspace to organise your packaging data. When annual EPR reporting requires accurate quantities and categories, and when your Declaration of Conformity and technical files need to be complete and retrievable, the same structured dataset covers both. Learn more at paqr.com/ppwr-solution/.

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