Glossary

The words these rules use, in plain language

These rules run on a handful of words that do not mean what they normally mean. Getting one wrong is how a business ends up thinking a duty belongs to somebody else. Each word here links to the provision that settles it.

Everything here was last read from its source on 12 August 2026.

• Authorised representative for extended producer responsibility

  A person or company established in a country who takes on the extended producer responsibility duties there for a business that is not established in that country.

  Also called: EPR representative · EPR authorised representative

• Authorised representative for product conformity

  Someone a manufacturer appoints by written mandate to act for it on product paperwork, including drawing up the declaration of conformity.

  Also called: Article 17 representative · authorised representative

• Distributor

  Anyone in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer or the importer, who makes packaging available on the market.

  Also called: packaging distributor

• Empty space ratio

  The share of a box that is empty once the goods are inside.

  Also called: empty space · void fill rules

• EU declaration of conformity

  A written statement by the manufacturer that a packaging type meets the requirements that apply to it.

  Also called: declaration of conformity · DoC

• Extended producer responsibility

  The arrangement that makes whoever puts packaging on a market pay for collecting and recycling it afterwards.

  Also called: EPR

• Importer

  A business established in the EU that places packaging from outside the EU onto the EU market.

  Also called: packaging importer

• Manufacturer

  Whoever has packaging made under their own name or trademark. There is exactly one manufacturer per packaging across the whole EU.

  Also called: packaging manufacturer

• Micro-enterprise

  A business with fewer than ten people whose yearly turnover or balance sheet total stays under a set ceiling.

  Also called: microenterprise

• Producer

  The business that first makes packaging available in a particular country. It is decided per country, so one business can be the producer in several countries at once.

  Also called: EPR producer · packaging producer

• Producer register

  The list a country keeps of the businesses that put packaging on its market.

  Also called: packaging register · EPR register

• Supplier

  Any person or business that supplies packaging or packaging material to a manufacturer.

  Also called: packaging supplier