The Council of the European Union agreed a negotiating mandate on packaging producer representatives on 21 October 2026. Its cover identifies a mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament. The action establishes the Council position; it does not itself give a business an immediate exemption. [reg-context]
Read the territory and quantity together
In document 14765/26, proposed Article 2 would suspend Article 45(3) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 for a producer established in a Member State, in respect of each other Member State where it first makes less than one tonne of packaging, including packaging of packaged products, available in a calendar year. The proposed suspension runs until 1 January 2032. [reg]
The wording uses a separate destination-Member-State test. Our reading of this proposal is therefore different from treating one tonne as a single EU-wide allowance, or treating a material description as an exemption. Exactly one tonne does not meet the text’s “less than” condition. [reg]
Relief would remain conditional
The same proposed Article 2 allows a national competent authority to order appointment of a representative when it finds a breach of EPR obligations. Article 2a calls for review of the suspension’s duration by 31 December 2030. Neither provision says that all other EPR duties disappear. [reg]
The cover identifies this document as a mandate for negotiations. Article 3 contains an entry-into-force formula tied to future publication in the Official Journal. Those are different stages: agreement on a negotiating text is not evidence that a final amending regulation has been published and become applicable. [reg]
The mandate provides no evidence that an immediate waiver has taken effect. This report is confined to the Council mandate; it does not resolve the Parliament position, national implementation or any individual producer’s legal liability. [reg]
Related reading: What Is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Packaging? A Practical Guide for Brands and Packaging Companies.
Turn the proposal into a planning record
For an EU-established producer planning sales into other Member States, the practical task is to separate the proposed eligibility facts from the decision to change a representation arrangement. An internal file can identify the producer’s establishment, each destination Member State, and packaging quantities first made available there during the relevant calendar year. Combining destinations into one EU total would obscure the separate territorial test in this proposal.
That file is preparation for assessing a possible future rule, not an instruction to stop appointing a representative. The legal-status checkpoint comes first: verify the adopted text, its publication and applicable timing before relying on relief. The proposed national-authority safeguard also means that a quantity screen alone would not answer every EPR question. Existing national and other EPR duties still need their own assessment; this article does not determine them.
Keep three dates in different columns: the negotiating mandate agreed on 21 October 2026, the proposed review by 31 December 2030, and the proposed suspension ending on 1 January 2032. None is interchangeable with a final amendment’s entry into force. The next decisive signal is the legislative outcome, not a company’s assumption that the negotiating threshold is already available.
Sources and scope
Council of the European Union. 14765/26: Mandate for negotiations, 2025/0395(COD). 2026-10-21. Cover p1; Article 2 and Article 2a p7; Article 3 p8. Negotiating mandate, not adopted amendment or personalized advice; no Parliament-position comparison approved.
Council of the European Union. Council mandate cover: 14765/26. 2026-10-21. Cover p1, OUTCOME OF PROCEEDINGS, mandate agreed 21 October 2026. Original negotiating mandate, not adopted amendment or personalized advice.
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