France EPR Packaging Labeling Requirements Guide

Selling packaged goods in France comes with a specific set of legal requirements — and most businesses don’t realise how detailed they are until an audit or marketplace suspension lands. This EPR guide walks through what’s required right now: which symbols to put on your boxes, which recycling codes to use, how household packaging is defined, and what the PPWR adds from August 2026.

What is EPR France — your EPR guide to key facts

France has been running producer responsibility schemes since the early 1990s — long before most EU countries got started. The core idea behind extended producer responsibility hasn’t changed: if you put a product on the market, you’re on the hook for dealing with the waste it generates. What has changed is the scope. Today it covers almost everything.

The legal framework rests on Decree 92-377, updated by the AGEC Law (Law 2020-105) and a 2024 Packaging Order. Taken together, EPR France is now probably the most wide-ranging producer responsibility scheme in the EU. The 2025 expansion added industrial and commercial B2B flows — so it’s not just about consumer goods anymore.

Day-to-day EPR compliance runs through approved Producer Responsibility Organisations. CITEO handles most household packaging. Adelphe covers wine and spirits. Léko offers an alternative. ADEME oversees the system.

Ready to register your company for France’s EPR packaging scheme? Let us handle your EPR registration — we’ll take care of the paperwork so you can focus on your business.

What is EPR compliance and what does it actually require

A lot of businesses ask what is EPR compliance exactly — and the short answer is that it’s three things at once. You register with a PRO and pay eco-fees based on what you put on the market. You put the right label on every packaging component. And every year you file a declaration covering every packaging type you’ve sold into France.

Getting registered is just the start. I’ve seen companies with valid CITEO membership still get flagged because they hadn’t put the Triman on their boxes — that’s what EPR compliance actually looks like in practice. PROs field questions about what is EPR compliance from new registrants constantly, and the answer always comes back to the same three-part picture.

Currently mandatory labels — what French law requires now

Four symbols are legally required on packaging sold in France. Each carries its own rules on placement, size, and permanence. This EPR guide section covers all four in detail.

Triman and info-tri — placement rules

Both symbols must be permanent. Print them on the box or engrave them on the product. For e-commerce, the product listing page is a valid alternative. A sticker that peels off does not satisfy the indelibility rule.

Multi-component packs need separate treatment. A cardboard box with a plastic insert needs the Triman and a recycling code on each part. CITEO’s technical guidelines specify minimum symbol sizes for different surface areas.

Penalty exposure: Missing Triman: up to €15,000 per infraction plus €20,000 per day until corrected. Failure to register with a PRO: up to €100,000.

Have questions about France’s packaging labeling requirements or the Triman logo? Book a free demo and our experts will walk you through everything you need to know.

Material recycling codes — complete reference

Recycling codes identify what a packaging material is made of. They must appear on every component. Accurate coding also feeds into your annual PRO declaration — wrong codes trigger ADEME audits.

Paper and cardboard (PAP)

Plastics

Annual declarations require breakdown by polymer type. Marking everything as “plastic” without a specific code is not acceptable under EPR France rules.

Glass, metals, and composites

EPR France registration and extended producer responsibility — who must comply

Extended producer responsibility means the cost and organisation of end-of-life waste management falls on the business that first put the product into circulation — not on taxpayers or local councils. France takes this seriously. Registration isn’t something you sort out after your first few sales; it has to happen before you ship anything at all.

There’s no minimum order size — one parcel to one French customer is enough to trigger the rules. That surprises people. The scope of extended producer responsibility is intentionally wide. Once you’re registered, EPR France registration gives you an IDU — a membership number you’ll need to share with every French marketplace and trading partner. Amazon and Zalando both check for it. No IDU, no listing.

Household packaging vs professional packaging

When French EPR launched, household packaging was basically the whole story — anything a consumer takes home and eventually throws out. Since January 2025, there’s a second stream for B2B flows, and from July 2026 it comes with its own green levies. Two separate systems, two separate declarations.

The practical problem is that many businesses sell both ways. A pallet going to a retailer and the same product mailed directly to a home need to sit in different declaration buckets. Mixing them up is by far the most common error we see in multi-channel accounts.

Annual data reporting — what you must declare

Data reporting isn’t optional and it isn’t a formality. Every year by 31 May you file a declaration with your PRO covering the total weight of every packaging type you placed on the French market, split by material. Your eco-fees are calculated directly from those numbers. Get them wrong — whether by accident or otherwise — and you’re looking at an ADEME audit. Deliberate underreporting has ended PRO contracts before.

Non-EU sellers — deadline approaching: Appointing a French authorised representative is voluntary until August 12, 2026. After that date, the PPWR makes it mandatory. The representative holds a French SIREN number and manages all registration, reporting, and eco-fee payments.

PPWR — what the EU packaging regulation changes

New rules by packaging type — August 2026 obligations

Regulation EU 2025/40 came into force on February 11, 2025, and it starts applying in full across all EU member states on August 12, 2026 — France included. Unlike a directive, it doesn’t need to be transposed into national law; it just applies directly. It replaces the old Directive 94/62/EC that’s been governing packaging rules since 1994. French EPR rules don’t disappear — they stay, and the PPWR sits on top of them.

Full compliance timeline

Triman vs the future EU harmonised label

No other EU country has its own mandatory recycling symbol — France is the outlier here. The Triman has been compulsory since 2015, and it’s worked well. The problem is that in 2028 the EU is rolling out a single harmonised set of sorting pictograms for all 27 member states, and at that point France’s symbol becomes redundant. The exact cutover date hasn’t been published yet, but the direction of travel is clear.

The practical advice: if you’re reprinting packaging artwork anyway, leave room for both the Triman and the incoming EU pictogram. The Commission has until August 2026 to publish the harmonised specs, so you’ll have enough lead time to update designs before the 2028 deadline.

Action checklist — before the deadlines

Immediate priority

• Complete EPR France registration with CITEO, Léko, or Adelphe — obtain your IDU number
• Confirm Triman logo and Info-tri appear on every component reaching French consumers
• Apply the correct recycling codes to all components — PAP, PET, ALU, and plastic codes
• Request Declaration of Conformity documents from your packaging supplier for every packaging type
• Audit food-contact packaging for PFAS; request heavy metal test certificates
• Share your IDU with every French marketplace — Amazon, Zalando, and others require it
• If based outside France, appoint an authorised representative now
• Register separately for the professional packaging EPR stream if supplying B2B packaging in France

Near-Term (2026–2028)

• Allocate QR code space in packaging artwork — mandatory for batteries from August 2026
• Track EU harmonised pictogram specifications — expected publication August 2026
• Keep household packaging and professional packaging data separate throughout the year
• Submit annual EPR declaration to your PRO by 31 May each year

The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is coming. Get your company PPWR-ready with our authorized representative service — so you’re ahead of the curve, not scrambling at the deadline.