France EPR for foreign sellers: representative and UIN

EPR in France for foreign online sellers: authorised representative, unique identifier and eco-organisations

If your company is established outside France and sells products online to French customers, French law treats you as a "producer" under extended producer responsibility (EPR, in French responsabilité élargie du producteur or REP) for each category of product you sell, and for the packaging. In practice you must join an approved French eco-organisation (éco-organisme) for each product stream, hold a unique identification number (identifiant unique, often called IDU) for each stream and display it, and, since 10 July 2026, appoint a representative established in France by written mandate.

Updated: November 2026. Key provisions: Articles L. 541-10, L. 541-10-1, L. 541-10-9, L. 541-10-9-1, L. 541-10-10, L. 541-10-13, L. 541-9-4 and L. 541-9-5 of the French Environmental Code (Code de l'environnement); Articles R. 541-173, R. 543-174 and R. 543-214 of the same code.

This guide is for directors of UK companies, and other non-French businesses, selling at a distance into France, and for their French subsidiaries, distributors and warehouses. Victoris is a Paris law firm; nothing here is advice on English law and tax is not covered. All examples are fictitious. If you or a French partner have already received a request from a French authority, see our page for a lawyer for DGCCRF and DDPP inspections.

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Are you a "producer" under French EPR when you sell from abroad?

The broad definition in Article L. 541-10

Article L. 541-10 of the Environmental Code allows EPR obligations to be imposed on any person who designs, manufactures, handles, processes, sells or imports products that generate waste. The text does not depend on where the business is established or on the sales channel. The French environment ministry states on its EPR page that the principle applies to every producer of the products concerned, whatever the sales method, and that online selling can no longer be used to avoid it.

The same article sets out how the obligation is met. Producers transfer it to an approved eco-organisation and pay a financial contribution, commonly called the eco-contribution (éco-contribution). The alternative is an approved individual scheme (système individuel), discussed below.

Stream-specific definitions: electrical goods and textiles

Each product stream has its own regulatory definition. For electrical and electronic equipment, Article R. 543-174 expressly covers distance selling: a producer includes any person established in another EU Member State or in a third country who sells electrical and electronic equipment in France by distance communication directly to households or other users, whatever the sales technique (mail order, internet, telephone). Since Brexit, the United Kingdom is a third country, so a UK company selling small appliances directly to French consumers falls within this definition.

For clothing, footwear and household linen, Article R. 543-214 defines the producer as the person who, in the course of business, manufactures in France or imports or first introduces the products onto the French market for supply to end users, by any sales technique. Where products are sold under a retailer's or principal's brand under a contract, that retailer or principal is the producer. Other streams have their own wording, which must be read for each product category you sell.

When a French intermediary is involved

If you sell from your own website and ship from a UK warehouse to French customers, you introduce the products onto the French market and you are the producer. The analysis becomes harder once a French business is in the chain: a distributor who buys and resells, a subsidiary that holds stock, a French fulfilment warehouse, or a retailer using its own brand. The answer depends on who owns the goods when they enter France, who sells to the end customer, under which brand, and which stream definition applies. Where a French entity stores products designed by a foreign parent, the question is not settled in a sentence; contracts, flows and invoices need to be reviewed against the stream definition.

Which EPR streams matter most for online sellers

The list in Article L. 541-10-1

Article L. 541-10-1 lists the products subject to EPR. For a consumer-goods seller the most common streams are household packaging (1°), electrical and electronic equipment (5°), batteries (6°), furniture and textile decoration items (10°), clothing, footwear and household linen (11°), toys (12°), sports and leisure articles (13°) and DIY and garden articles (14°). Toys, sports and leisure articles and DIY and garden articles have been covered since 1 January 2022, according to the text itself.

Packaging is the stream almost every seller falls into. The French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME), which runs the EPR register, puts it plainly: if your products are not covered by a stream, your packaging is. Since 1 January 2025, packaging of products used by businesses is also covered (2°), which matters if you sell to French companies.

One product, several streams

The categories overlap. Toys, sports and leisure articles and DIY articles fall within their stream except where they are already covered by another category. An electronic toy may therefore belong to the electrical equipment stream, its batteries to the batteries stream and its box to the packaging stream. ADEME confirms that a producer holds as many unique identifiers as streams concerned, packaging included, and that every product category sold must be covered by a membership, sometimes with several eco-organisations for the same stream.

Joining an eco-organisation or setting up an individual scheme

Membership and the eco-contribution

Under the collective model, you join an approved eco-organisation for the stream, transfer your obligation to it and pay a contribution set by its scale of fees. Eco-organisations are approved for a maximum of six years, renewable, against specifications set by order of the environment minister (Article L. 541-10, II). They must treat producers on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory terms (Article L. 541-10, III), so a UK company can join on the same footing as a French one. ADEME lists the information a non-resident company provides when joining: its EU VAT number or, failing that, its registration number with the tax authority of its country of residence.

The individual scheme

Article L. 541-10, I, allows an approved individual scheme only if the products carry a marking identifying their origin, waste is taken back at no cost anywhere in France, and the producer holds a financial guarantee against default. For a company shipping from abroad, organising take-back across France is a heavy commitment, and most foreign sellers choose membership.

Annual reporting

Article L. 541-10-13 requires producers to report each year, for each product category, proof of membership, quantities placed on the market (including recycled content) and waste management data. This can be done through the eco-organisation. The practical difficulty for a UK seller is usually the data itself: extracting quantities delivered to France, by stream, rather than total European sales.

The French authorised representative: Article L. 541-10-9-1

Who must appoint one

Article L. 541-10-9-1 of the Environmental Code was created by Article 5 of Law No. 2026-602 of 8 July 2026 and has applied since 10 July 2026. Any person not established in France who is subject to EPR, either as a producer under Article L. 541-10 or as a marketplace under Article L. 541-10-9, must appoint by written mandate a natural or legal person established in France as its representative (mandataire), responsible for ensuring compliance with its EPR obligations. The text makes no distinction between EU and non-EU businesses and does not require the representative to be approved or licensed.

Written mandate and subrogation

The representative is subrogated to (steps into) all the EPR obligations it accepts under the mandate. In our reading this covers eco-organisation membership, registration and the unique identifier, annual reporting and payment of contributions, within the limits of the mandate. The mandate should therefore define the streams and products covered, access to sales data, reporting, how contributions are advanced or recharged, term and termination. A representative who accepts obligations without the data to perform them is exposed, and so commercially is the seller who thinks it has delegated without sending its figures. Drafting this contract is where a review by a French lawyer saves time for both sides.

When the obligation is deemed met

The last paragraph of Article L. 541-10-9-1 provides that the obligation is deemed met for products whose EPR obligations are assumed by a marketplace established in France. If you sell both on such a marketplace and on your own website, you still need a representative for your website sales. ADEME's page on the unique identifier still presents the representative as optional; the 2026 statute now makes it mandatory.

The French EPR unique identifier (IDU)

One number per stream, obtained through the eco-organisation

Under Article L. 541-10-13, producers register with the administrative authority, which issues a unique identifier and publishes the list of registered producers. In practice this is ADEME's SYDEREP register. ADEME states that, under the collective model, the eco-organisation registers you and sends you the identifier, and that you cannot register on your own. One identifier is issued per stream. ADEME runs a public search tool for registered producers, searchable by company name, SIRET number or identifier.

Where to display it

Article R. 541-173 requires every producer to state its unique identifier in its general terms and conditions of sale (conditions générales de vente) or, if it has none, in any other contractual document given to the buyer. A producer with a website must also publish it alongside the publisher identification details required by Article 19 of the French law of 21 June 2004 on confidence in the digital economy (loi pour la confiance dans l'économie numérique). For a UK seller, this means the French version of your terms and the legal notice of your French-facing site must show each identifier. Failing to display it is a separate breach from failing to join.

Giving it to the buyer on request

Under Article L. 541-10-10, any seller of an EPR product must give the buyer, on request, the identifier of the producer who meets the EPR obligations for that product. French distributors are therefore entitled to ask you for your numbers, and often do so before listing a product.

Marketplaces: check the identifier or pay instead of the seller

Since 1 January 2022, Article L. 541-10-9 has made online marketplaces and similar electronic interfaces liable for EPR on products they help sell on behalf of third parties. They are exempt only if they hold evidence that the seller has already met its obligations, and they must record that evidence in a register available to the authorities. Holding a unique identifier for the products is deemed proof of compliance. The environment ministry has published a draft FAQ on this article, in French and English.

The consequence for a foreign seller is straightforward: a marketplace that would otherwise pay the contribution for you has every reason to ask for your identifier. If the marketplace is established in France and takes on the EPR for your products, you are exempt from appointing a representative for those products only. A marketplace that is not established in France must itself appoint a French representative when it is liable under Article L. 541-10-9.

Enforcement: environment ministry, ADEME and the DGCCRF

Who enforces what

The core EPR obligations (membership, contributions, registration, identifier, representative) are enforced by the French minister responsible for the environment, not by the DGCCRF. ADEME keeps the register and receives the data. An eco-organisation may also withdraw a member's identifier; according to ADEME this takes effect if the producer does not belong to another eco-organisation for the stream.

The DGCCRF (the French authority for competition, consumer affairs and fraud control) and its local offices, the DDPP, deal with consumer information: the Triman recycling logo and sorting instructions (info-tri) and environmental product information. Article L. 541-9-4 sets fines of up to EUR 3,000 for an individual and EUR 15,000 for a company for these breaches, imposed under the administrative fine procedure of the French Consumer Code. Product labelling rules more generally are covered in our guide to product and price labelling rules in France.

Penalties under Article L. 541-9-5

After a contradictory procedure, the environment minister may impose an administrative fine of up to EUR 1,500 for an individual and EUR 7,500 for a company per unit or per tonne of product concerned, and a daily penalty of up to EUR 20,000. Where the breach is a failure to meet the EPR obligation itself, the amount takes into account the estimated average annual quantity placed on the market over the period of the breach and the highest unit contribution charged by eco-organisations in the stream. An additional fine of up to EUR 30,000 applies where the producer is not registered, has not completed the register, has filed incorrect data or has not shown its unique identifier where required. Since Article L. 541-10-9-1 sits in the same section of the code, failure to appoint a representative falls, in our reading, under the same regime; no published decision on the new text was found at the date of writing.

Before any decision, the company is told of the facts and the proposed penalty and has one month to submit written or oral observations, with a lawyer if it wishes. For a foreign seller, one month is short to rebuild French sales figures and membership history. That is the moment to involve a French lawyer working with your representative.

Three fictitious examples

A Manchester clothing brand sells T-shirts and duvet covers from its own site, shipping from England. It is a producer for the textiles stream and the packaging stream, needs two identifiers shown in its French terms and on its site, and must appoint a French representative. If it also sells through a marketplace established in France that takes on its EPR, the exemption covers only those sales.

A Glasgow seller of blenders and coffee machines sells directly to French households. Article R. 543-174 makes it a producer of electrical equipment; its packaging is a second stream. If it moves stock to a French fulfilment warehouse, the warehouse does not become its representative without a written mandate setting the scope and giving access to the data.

A Bristol toy company sells wooden puzzles, soft toys and battery-powered musical toys. Puzzles and soft toys fall within the toy stream; battery-powered toys may fall within the electrical equipment stream, their batteries within the batteries stream, and all the boxes within packaging. It must map its catalogue product by product before joining, and add the Triman logo and sorting instructions, which the DGCCRF checks.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to join a French eco-organisation if I sell online to France from the UK?

In principle yes, for each stream your products and packaging fall into, once you qualify as a producer under the Environmental Code. The only alternative in the law is an approved individual scheme, which requires product marking, take-back across France and a financial guarantee.

What is the French EPR authorised representative?

Since 10 July 2026, Article L. 541-10-9-1 requires any business not established in France that is subject to EPR to appoint, by written mandate, a person established in France to ensure compliance. The representative steps into the obligations it accepts. The requirement is deemed met for products whose EPR is handled by a marketplace established in France.

How do I get a French EPR unique identification number?

Under the collective model, the eco-organisation you join registers you in ADEME's SYDEREP register and sends you the number; ADEME says you cannot register on your own. You receive one number per stream. Non-resident companies provide their EU VAT number or, failing that, their home tax registration number.

Where must the unique identifier appear?

In your general terms and conditions of sale or other contractual documents, and on your website with your legal publisher details (Article R. 541-173). You must also give it to any buyer who asks (Article L. 541-10-10).

Can a marketplace pay EPR fees for me?

A marketplace is liable for EPR on third-party sales unless it holds evidence that the seller has complied, and a unique identifier counts as such evidence (Article L. 541-10-9). A marketplace established in France that assumes your EPR exempts you from appointing a representative for those products, not for sales on other channels.

Who enforces EPR in France, and what are the fines?

The environment minister enforces the core obligations under Article L. 541-9-5: up to EUR 7,500 per unit or tonne for a company, a daily penalty of up to EUR 20,000 and an additional fine of up to EUR 30,000 for registration and identifier failures. The DGCCRF enforces Triman and sorting information, with fines of up to EUR 15,000 for a company (Article L. 541-9-4).

Conclusion

For a non-French business selling at a distance into France, EPR means four concrete tasks: join an eco-organisation for each stream, hold and display a unique identifier per stream, report quantities each year and, since July 2026, appoint a representative established in France. The difficulty is rarely the principle; it is mapping products and sales channels and drafting the mandate. If you are preparing to sell in France, choosing a representative, or answering a request from a distributor, a marketplace or the ministry, Victoris can review your position and help you take a consistent line across all your channels.

Article written by Guillaume Leclerc, lawyer at the Paris Bar, 34 avenue des Champs-Élysées, Paris. Working languages: French and English.

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