EPR in France, explained end to end.

Who owes EPR in France

The obligation follows the first company placing a product on the French market, whatever its size and wherever it sits. There is no de minimis threshold: a single sale to a French customer triggers it. The test is establishment, not nationality, so a German or Spanish company with no French entity is in the same position as a seller from outside the EU.

Where the producer has no establishment in France, Article L. 541-10-9-1 of the Code de l'environnement has made appointing a France-established mandataire compulsory since 10 July 2026, and that representative is subrogated into the obligations it accepts. PPWR Article 45 adds the same requirement at EU level for packaging since 12 August 2026, one representative per Member State.

The 19 streams, and how many apply to you

France has 19 EPR streams, run by 30 accredited eco-organisms. Liability is per stream, not per company: a brand shipping a boxed electronic device with a battery falls under three at once, packaging, WEEE and batteries, and registers separately in each. Most foreign sellers land in two or three.

• Household packaging (Citeo, Léko, Adelphe)
• Electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) (Ecosystem, Ecologic, Soren)
• Textile, household linen and footwear (TLC) (Refashion)
• Furniture (DEA) (Ecomaison, Valdelia, Valobat)
• Portable batteries and accumulators (Batribox, Ecosystem)
• Toys (Ecomaison)
• Sports, DIY and garden articles (Ecologic, Ecomaison, Valobat)
• Graphic paper (Citeo, Léko)

The full list of 19 streams, one page each.

How registration actually works

For each stream you are liable for: join the eco-organism, which validates the file, then ADEME publishes your unique identifier (IDU) on the public SYDEREP register. Count 2 to 3 weeks per stream from a signed mandate. Marketplaces query that register continuously, which is why a missing or mismatched IDU takes listings down rather than triggering a warning. Declarations then run annually, on the volumes you placed the previous year.

What it costs

Two separate things. The eco-contribution goes to the eco-organism, on its published schedule, and depends on what you place on the market. The representative's fee is ours: a published entry price of 190 euros per year excluding VAT per stream, with the exact figure fixed in a written quote within one business day. We take no percentage and no margin on the eco-contributions, nor on the eco-organism membership fees.

What happens when it is missing

The administrative regime sits in Articles L. 541-9-5 and L. 541-9-6 of the Code de l'environnement: up to 7,500 euros per unit or per tonne placed on the market for a legal entity, and a 30,000 euro ceiling for a registry or IDU failure, after a formal notice. In practice the commercial sanction arrives first, since marketplaces delist on their own verification, weeks before any administrative letter.