What the new EU packaging rules mean for your webshop
The PPWR, the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, has applied since 12 August 2026. Because it is a regulation rather than a directive, it applies directly in every EU member state. It affects almost every webshop. If you fill a shipping package and send it, you count as the producer of that packaging. That includes void fill and tape. Buying the packaging from a supplier doesn't change that. This page sets out what applies now, what comes later and where to start.
What you need to have in place now
The rules that apply now change little about what your packaging looks like. They change what you need to be able to prove. It comes down to three things.
Registration with an EPR organisation. In every country where you place packaging on the market, you register with the national producer responsibility organisation. In the Netherlands, that's Verpact. You report your packaging volumes to them every year and pay a waste management fee. For many Dutch webshops, this was already in place. What changes is how strict the requirements are and how firmly they are enforced.
Declaration of conformity and technical documentation. Your packaging supplier draws these up. You request them and keep them for five years. Do this for every supplier you buy packaging from. If you import packaging from outside the EU yourself, you are the importer and that obligation lies with you.
Identification on the packaging. The name and address of the manufacturer or the EU-based responsible party must appear on the packaging. Check whether that's the case for the packaging you currently buy.
All packaging is subject to a limit on heavy metals. If you sell food, there is also a limit on heavy metals and PFAS in packaging that comes into contact with food.
Do you buy your packaging from us?
We work with our suppliers to assess the shipping packaging you order from us on the relevant PPWR topics, such as material, recyclability, packaging minimisation and other applicable legal requirements. We assess it against what EU packaging legislation requires today.
Our PPWR support statement sets out which product information we can provide for your records and your EPR reporting.
Questions about materials, recyclability or product specifications? Get in touch.
If you ship to other EU countries, each country counts separately.
Shipping cross-border means registering with the EPR organisation in every country where your packaging is placed on the market. In Belgium, that's Fost Plus. In Germany, it's LUCID. In principle, you also need an authorised representative in each country where you have no establishment.
There is an EU proposal to relax that last requirement for EU-based businesses. Follow that development before you take on major costs here.
Start with the countries where you ship the most. If you ship to five countries and 90% of your volume goes to two of them, deal with those two first.
What you can prepare now
None of this is mandatory. It does make your reporting easier, and it saves you from having to re-source your packaging in 2029.
Map out which packaging leaves your business: shipping packaging, envelopes, void fill and tape.
List which EU countries you ship to and in what volumes. Start with the countries where you ship the most.
Measure the empty space in your most-used packaging sizes. That counts towards 2030, and it already saves on volumetric weight.
Build the 2030 requirements into your next packaging contract. Contracts run for years. The deadlines won't move.
Decide who in your business owns registration, reporting and supplier documentation.
2030 affects your shipping costs
From 1 January 2030, e-commerce and transport packaging may contain no more than 50% empty space. On top of that come mandatory recyclable design, minimum percentages of recycled plastic and a ban on unnecessary layers and double walls.
That's still a while off, but packaging contracts run for years. If you buy for three years now, you're buying past the deadline.
There's an immediate benefit too. Empty space is volumetric weight, and volumetric weight helps determine what you pay per shipment. A better-fitting range of packaging sizes lowers your shipping costs today, regardless of what the law requires in 2030.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. For micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 employees and less than €2 million in turnover), some rules are less strict, but registration and reporting almost always still apply.
Yes. Your supplier demonstrates that the material conforms. You remain responsible for registration, reporting and the use of the filled packaging.
Yes. Packaging placed on the market before 12 August 2026 can simply be used up.
Three things. Registration with the EPR organisation in every country where you place packaging on the market (in the Netherlands, that's Verpact). The declarations of conformity and technical documentation from your packaging suppliers in your records, kept for at least five years. And identification details on the packaging itself: the name and address of the manufacturer or the EU-based responsible party.
No, that applies from 1 January 2030.
Yes. As the importer, you are responsible for the packaging of those products, not the manufacturer outside the EU.
In the Netherlands, the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) supervises compliance and can take enforcement action, up to and including removing products from the market. Marketplaces and business customers also increasingly ask for proof of registration, because they have their own verification obligations.
How we can help
For legal advice, registration and reporting, we refer you to Verpact and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).
What we can look at is your shipping data. Dimensions, volumes and destination countries are in your account. You need those figures for your EPR reporting, and they show where empty space is already costing you money.
