Rechtsstand: 21 September 2026 — the date every statement on this page was checked against the sources below.
No. The obligation applies in full today. The European Commission did propose suspending it until 1 January 2035 — COM(2025) 982 final of 10 December 2025 — but that is a proposal, not law. Council negotiations on it were discontinued after strong reservations from a large majority of member states, and the file is still in first reading in the European Parliament's ENVI committee. Until it is adopted and published, § 5(2) VerpackDG and Article 45(3) PPWR bind you exactly as written. Sources (4)
COM(2025) 982 finalCOM(2025) 982 finalEuropean ParliamentEuropean Parliament — Legislative TrainBMUKNBMUKN — 7 September 2026European CommissionEuropean Commission — 11 August 2026
Why everyone is asking
Between the PPWR applying on 12 August 2026 and today, three things happened that sound like relief and are not: the Commission proposed a suspension, the Commission publicly urged member states not to sanction, and the German federal government tabled its own softening amendment. None of the three changes the law in force.
Where the file actually stands
| Date | Step |
|---|---|
| 10 December 2025 | Commission tables COM(2025) 982 final, procedure 2025/0395(COD), as part of the environmental omnibus. It would suspend the authorised-representative provisions in both the Batteries Regulation and the PPWR until 1 January 2035. |
| 19 January 2026 | Exchange of views in the European Parliament's ENVI committee. |
| 11 March 2026 | Ingeborg ter Laak appointed rapporteur. |
| 22 June 2026 | Draft report discussed in committee. |
| Council | Negotiations on the two EPR proposals in the omnibus package discontinued, following strong reservations from a large majority of member states. |
| 12 August 2026 | PPWR applies. Article 45(3) takes effect. § 5(2) VerpackDG applies in Germany. |
| 7 September 2026 | The German federal government tables its own amendment in Brussels at a preparatory meeting for the environmental omnibus. |
The Parliament's own Legislative Train entry for this file still records it at committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading. There is no adopted text, and no date on which one becomes law.
What Germany has proposed
The Bundesumweltministerium published its position on 8 September 2026. Two elements, quoted from the ministry's own release:
„Händler, die weniger als zehn Tonnen Verpackung pro Jahr in Umlauf bringen, sollen keinen Bevollmächtigten benennen müssen“
„die Registrierung im neuen System soll bis Mitte 2028 ausgesetzt werden, bis ein zentrales europäisches System zur Registrierung für die Hersteller in Betrieb gegangen ist“
A ten-tonne threshold would be a real change for small sellers. It is worth knowing that German law already uses that exact figure elsewhere: § 9(2) VerpackDG relieves producers who placed under 10 tonnes in the previous calendar year from the running report under § 9(1), replacing it with a single annual submission by 1 June. That existing threshold governs reporting, not the representative, and it is in force today.
„We have asked member states not to sanction“
The Commission has said publicly that it asked the Parliament and the member states to abolish the obligation, and that enforcement should be restrained while the file moves. That is a political signal from the body that proposed the change. It is not a legal defence.
Enforcement in Germany does not sit with the Commission. § 66(4) VerpackDG makes the competent authority the one designated under the law of each Land, and § 13(1) and § 13(4) operate without any enforcement decision at all: an unregistered producer may not make packaging available, and a fulfilment provider may not act for one. ZSVR runs an automated register match. A marketplace deactivating your listings is not a sanction, and it does not wait for one.
What we would change, and when
We watch this file. If the suspension is adopted and published in the Official Journal, this page changes the same week and says so in the changelog — and we will tell every customer whose obligation it removes, including where that ends their need for us. If the German ten-tonne threshold is adopted instead, the answer becomes conditional on your tonnage and we will say that too.
Until one of those happens, the honest answer to „should I wait?“ is no. The proposal has been live for nine months, the Council has already stepped back from it once, and the obligation it would suspend has been in force since August.
Sources
Every claim above comes from one of these. Primary law and the competent authority first; no provider marketing pages.
- COM(2025) 982 final — read 2026-09-21
- European Parliament — Legislative Train — read 2026-09-21
- BMUKN — 7 September 2026 — read 2026-09-21
- European Commission — 11 August 2026 — read 2026-09-21
- Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) — read 2026-09-21
- VerpackDG § 5 — read 2026-09-21
- VerpackDG § 9 — read 2026-09-21
- VerpackDG § 66 — read 2026-09-21
Razvan Toma is the founder of EPR Germany Rep and of EPR France Rep, the French sister service. He reads the statutes and the regulator's own guidance directly, and publishes what they say — including when it means telling a visitor they do not need to buy anything.
Razvan on LinkedIn ↗