Irish SMEs face additional compliance costs of up to €1,100 per year under new rules
Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú has warned that new EU packaging rules risk placing disproportionate costs and red tape on Irish small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), particularly those selling across EU borders.
While Ní Mhurchú says she supports the environmental objectives of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), she believes businesses are rightly concerned about the cost and complexity of complying with different requirements across Member States.
Under the new rules – which became applicable on 12 August 2026 – businesses selling packaged goods into other EU countries can face producer responsibility obligations in the destination country, potentially requiring separate registrations and compliance fees.
Published 2026 prices from EPR compliance provider Eldris show annual packages ranging from around €360 in Germany to €1,485 in Slovenia. Businesses in Ireland South have reported to Ní Mhurchú that compliance costs can range from approximately €300 to €1,100 per market per year.
The Commission says the PPWR will simplify the Single Market by replacing fragmented national rules. But for a small business selling into multiple Member States, a combination of producer-responsibility registration and compliance can still mean dealing with multiple national systems and costs. The question is whether the practical implementation is delivering the simplification promised on paper.
“Small businesses should be encouraged to grow and export across the Single Market, not face a patchwork of compliance requirements and fixed costs that make doing so increasingly difficult,” Ní Mhurchú said.
Ní Mhurchú has submitted a parliamentary question to the European Commission calling for action to reduce the burden on Irish SMEs. The Fianna Fáil MEP has also written a letter to the Commission urging them to provide prompt relief for small businesses and to explore a single EU-wide registration system rather than requiring businesses to register individually in each Member State.
Ní Mhurchú said the issue is particularly concerning given the Commission’s stated focus on simplification and competitiveness, and Ireland’s own priority of competitiveness during its EU Council Presidency.
“There is a huge hypocrisy that needs to be addressed. We cannot tell small businesses that the Single Market is open to them while creating a system where the cost of accessing multiple markets becomes prohibitive.”
There is some potential relief ahead: under a Commission proposal, the mandatory requirement for EU-based producers selling directly to end users in another Member State to appoint an authorised representative for EPR purposes would be suspended until 1 January 2035. The proposal will first need to be voted on by the Parliament’s Environment Committee in October, before proceeding to a plenary vote involving the wider body of MEPs.
Ní Mhurchú said the Commission should also urgently examine whether the wider PPWR system is proportionate for small businesses.
“Environmental protection and competitiveness are not mutually exclusive. For some small businesses, however, these rules could become a death knell for their ambitions to trade across Europe. A family-run business in West Cork shipping its hand-painted sculptures to France should not be expected to navigate the same complex regulatory burden as a multinational with the resources of Amazon.”
