Understanding the Applicability Questions

Overview

This page explains every question in the applicability check: what it asks, what to answer when, and why the regulation asks it. The check computes roles and obligations directly from these answers, so the value of the result depends on answering them accurately. Each question in the product also carries an info icon with a short version of this guidance.

Answer everything for the specific legal entity you are checking, not for your group as a whole. If in doubt about a legal edge case, this guidance helps you frame the question, but it is a working aid, not legal advice.

Section 1: Manufacturing & own brand

Section 2: Imports

Determines whether the company acts as importer under Art. 3(1)(17).

Do you import packaged goods or packaging from outside the EU?

• Answer Yes if the entity brings packaged goods or empty packaging from a third country into the EU market, including purchases from your own group companies abroad. Countries like the UK, Switzerland, or China are outside the EU for this purpose.
• Answer No if everything the entity sources is already on the EU market.
• Why it matters. The importer is the first to place that packaging on the EU market and must ensure it conforms and its documentation exists before placing it. Importers also carry an extra marking duty: adding their own name and address (Art. 18(3)).

Section 3: Establishment & cross-border sales

Determines producer status per member state under Art. 3(1)(15). Producer status is the anchor for registration and EPR.

In which member states are you established AND first place packaged products on the market?

• Select every member state where both conditions hold: the entity is established there, and it first makes packaged products available there. The example chips (DE, FR) come from your company master data.
• Check "No first placement in any member state" if the entity never first places packaged products anywhere, for example a pure intermediary. The check requires you to select countries or explicitly confirm none apply; it never assumes.
• Why it matters. Each selected member state creates producer status there, which brings registration (Art. 44) and extended producer responsibility (Art. 45) in that country.

Do you sell cross-border directly to end users?

• Answer with the destination, for example "Yes, to FR", if the entity sells from one member state directly to end users in another (typically e-commerce distance selling). Answer No if it only sells domestically or through local entities.
• Why it matters. Distance selling makes you the producer in the destination country, and because you are not established there, you typically need an authorised representative for EPR in that member state (Art. 45). This is why a result can include a chip like "EPR representative FR".

Section 4: Packaging categories

Which packaging categories you use, per Art. 3(1)(4) to (8). This decides the later obligations (2028 to 2030).

Which packaging categories do you use?

• Select every category that applies:
  • Sales packaging: the sales unit around the product at the point of purchase.
  • Grouped packaging: bundles several sales units, for example a film around six bottles.
  • Transport packaging: facilitates handling and transport, for example pallets and wrapping films.
  • E-commerce packaging: delivers online orders to end users.
  • Service packaging: filled at the point of sale, for example carrier bags and beverage cups.
• Check "None of these categories" only if the entity genuinely uses no packaging in any of these forms.
• Why it matters. Categories gate the staged waves: the empty-space ratio for transport and e-commerce packaging (Art. 24(1), from 2030), reuse targets such as 40 percent for transport packaging (Art. 29(1), 2030), and the recyclability and recycled-content requirements as they phase in. Your selection decides which of these appear under "Coming up for your categories" in the result.

Section 5: Food contact & environmental claims

Gates the PFAS limits (Art. 5(5)) and the green-claims discipline (Art. 14).

Do you place any food-contact packaging on the market?

• Answer Yes if any packaging comes into contact with food, from consumer food packaging to cups and takeaway boxes.
• Why it matters. Food-contact packaging carries the PFAS limits of Art. 5(5) (25/250 ppb for targeted measurements, 50 ppm for total fluorine). If you answer Yes, PFAS limits appear in your obligations.

Do you advertise environmental properties of your packaging?

• Answer Yes if your marketing makes claims like recyclable, compostable, bio-based, or climate-neutral about the packaging.
• Why it matters. Environmental claims about packaging are disciplined by Art. 14: they must be substantiated and presented per the rules. If you answer No, the result shows this obligation as Not triggered.

ℹ️ Regulatory context. The questions map one-to-one onto the regulation's definitions and gates: manufacturer Art. 3(1)(13), producer Art. 3(1)(15), importer Art. 3(1)(17), packaging categories Art. 3(1)(4) to (8), PFAS Art. 5(5), claims Art. 14, and the duties they trigger in Chapters IV and VIII. See Regulation (EU) 2025/40.

Common Questions

A contract manufacturer produces and packs our branded products. Who answers Yes to what? The contract manufacturer answers Yes to manufacturing or filling. You answer Yes to selling under your own brand, which makes you count as manufacturer for your branded goods. Both entities can carry duties.

We only import within our own group. Intra-group imports from outside the EU still make the receiving EU entity an importer.

We are established in one member state but ship to consumers all over the EU. Select your home member state in the establishment question, and answer the cross-border question with your destination countries. Expect producer duties, and possibly EPR representatives, in the destinations.

What if I really cannot answer a question? Get the answer from the people who run the operation rather than guessing. The result is only as reliable as its inputs, and the check deliberately refuses to complete with open questions.