EPR is coming: register now to save the environment and avoid Amazon account suspension
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Everybody should be talking about this: EPR, a new environmental tax with the power to do a lot of good for the planet.
But it could also catch out unwary sellers on Amazon and lead to account suspension.
Here’s what it is, and what you need to do to comply.
What is EPR?
It stands for Extended Producer Responsibility, and it’s legislation designed to protect the environment.
Effectively it places responsibility for a product, for all of its life cycle, with the producer. That includes disposal: under the latest EPR rules, waste disposal costs are shifting from taxpayers to producers.
You are considered a producer if you:
- Manufacture a product subject to EPR requirements in the relevant countries
- Import a product subject to EPR requirements in the relevant countries
- Sell a product subject to EPR requirements in the relevant countries.
EPR also creates incentives to make products, and packaging in particular, more recyclable and reusable.
How does it work?
Producers will be required to make a small additional tax payment for EPR, which will be plugged back into recycling and repurposing costs.
In most categories (apart from electronics), sellers will be asked to file their EPR annually.
When filing, you’ll be required to estimate how much of the product — for example, packaging — you will be selling over the next year by weight and volume, and your EPR contribution will be based on that.
Where does it apply?
EPR originated in Sweden in the 1980s and became a chemical tax, and has taken various forms in policy since then.
However, the current EU EPR legislation launched in France in January, and is applicable in Germany from 1 July.
From there, it is likely to expand rapidly in all EU countries. We hear that Spain and Austria will probably be the next countries to take it up.
