Two regimes ask "who is responsible" and answer it differently.
The PPWR puts product-compliance duties on the manufacturer. National extended producer responsibility schemes put registration, reporting and fee duties on the producer. Same pallet of goods, potentially two different companies, and neither is decided by where the goods are stored.
| PPWR manufacturer | EPR producer | |
|---|---|---|
| Defined at | Art. 3(1)(13) | Art. 3(1)(15) |
| Test | Whoever has the packaging designed or manufactured under its own name or trademark | A manufacturer, importer or distributor to which one of points (a) to (e) applies, turning on where it is established, which territory it first supplies, and whether it supplies end users directly |
| Owes | Conformity assessment (Art. 38), EU declaration of conformity (Art. 39), Annex VII technical documentation | Registration and reporting (Art. 44), EPR fees under the national scheme |
| Scope | One duty for the EU as a whole | Repeats country by country, 27 times over |
Producer at Art. 3(1)(15) is a manufacturer, importer or distributor to which one of points (a) to (e) applies: points (a) to (d) are four alternative tests, and point (e) applies only where no one is the producer under them.
Manufacturer at Art. 3(1)(13) is any natural or legal person that manufactures packaging or a packaged product, subject to points (a) and (b). Under point (a), subject to point (b), whoever has packaging or a packaged product designed or manufactured under its own name or trademark is the manufacturer, regardless of whether any other trademark is visible. Under point (b), where that person is a micro-enterprise under Recommendation 2003/361/EC as applicable on February 11, 2025 and the person supplying it the packaging is located in the same Member State, the supplier is the manufacturer; both conditions must hold. Art. 21 treats an importer or distributor that places packaging on the market under its own name or trademark, or modifies packaging in a way that could affect compliance, as a manufacturer with the Art. 15 obligations; where that importer or distributor is a micro-enterprise and its supplier is located in the Union, the supplier is considered the manufacturer for Art. 15.
A distribution center in a member state does not by itself create or transfer an obligation. Recital (122) gives the general rule: where a company buys a packaged product from another member state or from a third country and supplies it in the member state where it is located, that company should be considered the producer, as the first company making it available on that territory. One product, one warehouse, three routes:
Ownership of the goods is not what the points turn on; they turn on who makes the packaging or packaged product available, where, and to whom.
Under Art. 21, an importer or distributor that places packaging on the market under its own name or trademark, or modifies packaging in a way that affects compliance, is treated as the manufacturer and inherits the Art. 15 duties, including the declaration of conformity. If you supply white label, this splits your portfolio in two: the lines you sell under your own brand and the lines your customer brands are not the same compliance problem, and they may not even have the same obligated party.
One exception runs the other way, and it is easy to miss because Art. 3(1)(13)(a) opens with the words "subject to point (b)". Where the brand owner is a micro-enterprise under Recommendation 2003/361/EC as applicable on February 11, 2025 and its packaging supplier sits in the same member state, point (b) makes the supplier the manufacturer, not the brand owner. Both conditions have to hold together. So private label does not automatically land on the retailer: a micro-enterprise brand owner buying locally pushes the duty back up to its supplier, and for the Art. 15 obligations, including the declaration of conformity, Art. 15(12) does the same where its supplier is located anywhere in the Union.
A distributor's check under Art. 19(2) is narrow. It confirms that the producer is registered under Art. 44, that the labeling meets Art. 12, and that manufacturer or importer identification is present. A distributor is not required to verify that a declaration of conformity exists.
An importer's duty is heavier. Under Art. 18(2) the importer must confirm the manufacturer carried out the conformity assessment, and under Art. 18(7) must keep a copy of the declaration of conformity for 5 years for single-use packaging and 10 years for reusable packaging.
The practical consequence: a business that buys from an EU distributor, rather than importing itself, cannot assume anyone upstream has checked the DoC. The distributor was never asked to.
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