Manufacturer or producer? Which role your company has under the PPWR and which duties come with it

Anyone who has worked with the German Packaging Act so far knows one producer concept: the producer under the German Packaging Act was whoever first placed packaging filled with goods on the market in Germany. The EU Packaging Regulation splits this single role into two. The manufacturer is responsible for the conformity of the packaging, that is substance limits, technical documentation and the declaration of conformity. The producer bears the extended producer responsibility, that is registration, system participation and volume reporting in the country where the packaging becomes waste. In many cases this is the same company. In cross-border supply chains, for own brands and for imports the roles diverge, and they have done so since 12 August 2026 without any transition period.

This article explains both terms, uses typical scenarios to show who must do what, and ends with a self-assessment to download. It is aimed at fillers, industrial companies, importers and retailers who want to clarify for their own product range which obligations actually apply to them.

Two terms, two questions

The assignment works best if you treat it as two separate questions, just as the Central Agency Packaging Register (ZSVR) suggests.

First question: Who is responsible for the design and characteristics of the packaging and can therefore assess its conformity? That is the manufacturer under Article 3(1)(13) (German: Erzeuger). For each packaging there is exactly one across the EU.

Second question: Who makes the packaging available for the first time in the Member State where it is expected to become waste, and finances its disposal there? That is the producer under Article 3(1)(15) (German: Hersteller). This question must be asked anew for each Member State and each supply chain.

Beyond these two roles, the Regulation recognises further economic operators, each with obligations of their own:

And one rule that shapes everyday practice: roles are not assigned per company but per packaging. The same firm can be the manufacturer of its printed shipping packaging, the importer of the imported product packaging and the distributor of the purchased pallet.

Who is the manufacturer?

The manufacturer is whoever makes a packaging or a packaged product. The Regulation immediately refines this in two directions. First: whoever has a packaging or a packaged product designed or made under its own name or trademark is the manufacturer, regardless of who physically produces the packaging and whether other brands appear on it. Second: if this commissioning party is a microenterprise and the supplier of the packaging is located in the same Member State, the supplier is the manufacturer.

In its guidance document C/2026/3702, the Commission makes clear that what matters is not the physical act of production but two criteria: the role in the design or production and the name or trademark. This results in three cases.

If the packaging bears your name or your trademark, you are the manufacturer. That applies to the retailer's own brand just as it does to the brand owner who has products made by a contract filler. The Central Agency Packaging Register adds that it does not matter whether you own the trademark. Group companies and licensees can also be manufacturers; what is decisive is the link between the name or trademark and the influence on the design of the packaging. A licensor whose brand merely appears on the packaging, without that licensor determining its characteristics, is not automatically the manufacturer; that depends on the contract.

If the packaging is unmarked and it is sales or grouped packaging, the manufacturer is whoever fills it and thereby places it on the market. The filler applies the final processing steps, filling, sealing, labelling, and turns the empty folding box into a packaging. The carton maker is the supplier.

If the packaging is unmarked and it is transport, service or primary production packaging, the maker of that packaging is in principle the manufacturer. The Central Agency Packaging Register draws a further distinction here: dimensionally stable packaging such as pallets, crates, coffee-to-go cups or pizza boxes receives its final shape during production, so the manufacturer is the maker of the empty packaging. Flexible packaging such as film on rolls, wrappings and strapping bands receives its final shape only when it is applied, so on this reading the manufacturer is whoever assembles the packaging with all its components, usually the party that wraps the pallet. The Commission takes a different view in its FAQ: unprinted stretch film, it says, is already placed on the market as packaging while still on the roll, and the manufacturer is therefore the film manufacturer, not the company that later wraps the film around the load. Until this question is resolved, users of film and strapping should obtain the manufacturer's declaration and additionally document the wrapped unit themselves.

Two additions complete the picture. Under Article 21, importers and distributors are considered manufacturers if they place packaging on the market under their own name or trademark, or if they modify packaging already placed on the market in a way that could affect its conformity. If such an importer or distributor is itself a microenterprise and its supplier is established in the Union, the supplier is considered the manufacturer (Article 21, second subparagraph); here it is sufficient for the supplier to be established in the EU, not necessarily in the same Member State. And the microenterprise rule works in one direction only: a business with fewer than ten employees and no more than two million euros in turnover or balance sheet total that orders its printed bags from a German supplier is not the manufacturer, the supplier is. If the same business orders from abroad, it is itself the manufacturer. One imprecision in the text is worth knowing: Article 3(1)(13) requires the supplier to be in the same Member State, while Article 15(12) lets a supplier anywhere in the Union suffice for the manufacturer obligations. The Commission and the Central Agency Packaging Register apply the narrower version; anyone ordering from another EU country as a microenterprise should not rely on the broader one. What that means in detail is set out in Microenterprises, small businesses and online retail: which PPWR exemptions exist.

What the manufacturer must do is described in detail in PPWR declaration of conformity: template, mandatory content under Annex VIII and instructions. In short: conformity assessment under Module A, technical documentation, declaration of conformity, identification plus name and address on the packaging, retention for five or ten years respectively, submission to the authority within ten days.

Who is the producer?

Under Article 3(1)(15), the producer is any manufacturer, importer or distributor who makes packaging or packaged products available for the first time within the territory of a Member State or unpacks packaged products there, without being an end user. The definition has five points, which can be reduced to three situations.

You are established in a Member State and make packaging or packaged products available there for the first time: you are the producer in that Member State (points a and b). This is the normal case of the filler supplying the domestic retail trade.

You are established anywhere, including in a third country, and make packaging or packaged products available in another Member State directly to end users, for instance via an online shop or by direct delivery to a commercial end customer: you are the producer in that other Member State (points c and d) and must appoint an authorised representative for extended producer responsibility there.

As a company you unpack packaged products in a Member State without being an end user, and nobody else is the producer under points a to d: then you are (point e). This applies, for example, to the retailer who removes imported grouped packaging in its warehouse.

The Central Agency Packaging Register calls the principle behind this the domestic-first principle: the producer is whoever opens the supply chain in the Member State where the packaging becomes waste. If the manufacturer is established in that Member State, it is also the producer, because nobody stands before it in the chain. If the manufacturer is established abroad, the first company in the domestic supply chain is the producer: the importer for goods from a third country, the distributor for goods from another Member State. Sourcing from another EU country is not an import within the meaning of the Regulation; whoever sources this way is a distributor.

The Commission illustrates this in its guidance with a chain that is easy to transfer to your own cases. Company A makes unmarked boxes and sells them empty to company B in the same Member State: A is the producer. If the box bears B's brand, B is the producer. If B sells the filled boxes to company C in another Member State, C is the producer there, because the boxes become waste there. If the boxes are exported to a third country, there is no producer in any Member State. And if company D sells packaged fruit to a supermarket in its own country, D is the producer; if D sells the same fruit to a supermarket in another Member State, the supermarket is the producer there; if D sells it via an online shop directly to consumers in another Member State, D is the producer there and needs an authorised representative.

A special rule applies to transport packaging. If it is made available for the first time in a Member State other than the one in which its manufacturer is established, the manufacturer is only the producer if the recipient is the end user of the packaged product. If the recipient is a company that distributes the goods onward, that company is itself the producer. For industrial companies with direct deliveries to end customers in other EU countries, this is the point where the obligation to appoint an authorised representative arises. More on this in Does the PPWR apply to B2B? Transport packaging, pallets, stretch film and used cartons.

What has changed compared with the German Packaging Act

For most German companies, the producer under the PPWR is the same actor who was previously the producer under the German Packaging Act. Three scenarios have shifted, however, and without any transition period, as the Central Agency Packaging Register expressly emphasises.

For retailers' own brands, the contract filler used to be the producer under the German Packaging Act, because it first placed the filled packaging on the market. Under the PPWR, the retail company as the commissioning party is the manufacturer, and as a manufacturer within the country it is also the producer. System participation for own-brand packaging therefore lies with the retailer, regardless of whether the goods were produced domestically or abroad. The contract filler supplies the data under Article 16 that the retailer needs for the declaration of conformity and volume reporting.

For imports of third-party brands without a domestic intermediary, the first party making them available in the domestic supply chain is the producer. If a retailer buys directly from the foreign maker, it bears the extended producer responsibility. The foreign maker remains the manufacturer and owes the declaration of conformity and documentation.

For cross-border deliveries to companies in other Member States, the producer role passes to the recipient, provided that recipient is not an end user. Anyone who as a supplier has so far handled system participation for the packaging in several countries must check whether that is still their task.

What remains: registration in the LUCID packaging register continues to apply. Anyone who was registered under the German Packaging Act is also considered registered under the new law pursuant to Section 68(2) of the Packaging Implementation Act, but must add changes by 12 November 2026, such as new brand names or the appointment of an authorised representative. Anyone who becomes a producer for the first time through the PPWR and was not previously registered had to register by 12 September 2026. Existing system participation contracts continue under Section 68(1) until 31 December 2026 at the latest. The details of the relationship between the Regulation and German law are set out in PPWR, VerpackG, VerpackDG and LUCID: what applies when.

Which obligations attach to which role

The matrix shows which obligation applies to which role. A company reads it separately for each packaging type and each target market.

The manufacturer may only place conforming packaging on the market, carries out the conformity assessment, draws up the technical documentation and the declaration of conformity, affixes the identification plus name and address, ensures continued conformity in series production, retains the documents for five or ten years and submits them to the authority on request within ten days (Article 15).

The supplier provides the manufacturer with all information and documents the manufacturer needs to demonstrate conformity, including the technical documentation for its material. The Commission has made clear that the supplier cannot refuse to provide them (Article 16, FAQ section X question 4).

Before placing packaging on the market, the importer ensures that the manufacturer has carried out the assessment and drawn up the technical documentation, that the packaging is labelled, that the required documents accompany it and that the manufacturer's details under Article 15 are affixed (Article 18(2)). It affixes its own name and address, keeps a copy of the declaration available and ensures that the technical documentation can be submitted, for five or ten years respectively (Article 18). Violations are administrative offences under Section 66 VerpackDG with fines of up to 200,000 euros.

Before making packaging available, the distributor checks that the packaging is labelled, that the manufacturer and importer have affixed their details and that the producer is entered in the producer register. It does not owe a declaration of conformity of its own. If it detects a non-conformity, it informs the authorities in every Member State in which it has made the packaging available (Article 19).

All economic operators, including fulfilment service providers, must be able on request to identify to the market surveillance authorities under Article 22 from whom they obtained packaging and to whom they supplied it, for five or ten years respectively.

The producer registers in every Member State in which it makes packaging available for the first time, in Germany with the Central Agency Packaging Register via LUCID, and does so before the first making available (Section 6 VerpackDG). For packaging subject to system participation, it participates in one or more systems, reports the volumes to the system and the register and, where applicable, submits a declaration of completeness (Sections 7, 9, 10 VerpackDG). It cannot delegate registration and data reporting to third parties, with the exception of authorised representatives for extended producer responsibility.

What the matrix does not show, because it is not a role but a consequence: anyone who as an importer or distributor places packaging on the market under its own brand moves into the manufacturer column under Article 21, with all the conformity obligations.

Six typical scenarios

The filler with externally sourced packaging. A food company in North Rhine-Westphalia fills its pasta into folding boxes supplied by a carton plant and sells to German retailers. It is the manufacturer because it fills, and the producer in Germany because it opens the supply chain there. The carton plant is the supplier and owes the material data. Compared with the German Packaging Act nothing changes, except that the declaration of conformity is added.

The retail company with an own brand. A retail chain has muesli produced under its brand by a contract filler in Bavaria. It is the manufacturer because the packaging bears its brand, and the producer in Germany. The contract filler used to be the producer under the German Packaging Act and no longer is. System participation must lie with the retailer since 12 August 2026.

The importer of third-party branded goods. A wholesaler in Hamburg sources tool cases from an Asian brand owner and sells them to specialist retailers. It is the importer, so before placing them on the market it checks whether the assessment and documentation exist and the documents are enclosed, and keeps the declaration of conformity and documentation available. It is also the producer in Germany, because it is the first party making them available in the domestic chain. If it has the cases produced with its own logo, it additionally becomes the manufacturer under Article 21.

The machine builder with direct delivery to France. A plant engineering company from the Bergisches Land region delivers a machine on pallets, in stretch film and with strapping to the end customer in Lyon. For the pallet, the maker of the pallet is the manufacturer. For the film and the strapping it depends on the reading: the film manufacturer according to the Commission, the plant engineering company according to the Central Agency Packaging Register; it obtains the manufacturers' declarations and additionally documents the wrapped unit itself. The producer in France is the plant engineering company, because it delivers directly to an end user in another Member State, and it must appoint an authorised representative for extended producer responsibility there. If the same delivery went to a French dealer who resells the machine, the dealer would be the producer.

The online retailer with consumer customers in Austria. A mail order company from Düsseldorf sells to consumers in Germany and Austria and uses shipping boxes with its logo. It is the manufacturer of the shipping boxes because they bear its name. It is the producer in Germany and, because of the direct delivery to end users, also the producer in Austria, with an authorised representative there.

The bakery as a microenterprise. A bakery with six employees sources printed bags from a supplier in Cologne. Because it is a microenterprise and the supplier is located in the same Member State, the supplier is the manufacturer. For service packaging that is filled at the point of sale, the intention of the EU legislator is that the producer role also lies with whoever makes the empty service packaging available for the first time in the Member State, in other words with the supplier. The upstream shift of obligations familiar from the German Packaging Act is thus preserved in effect; the Packaging Implementation Act expressly provides for it in Section 7(2).

When you need an authorised representative

The Regulation recognises two different authorised representatives, and the search queries for costs and countries show that they are often confused.

The authorised representative of the manufacturer under Article 17 is voluntary. A manufacturer can appoint one in writing to keep the technical documentation and the declaration of conformity available for the authorities and to cooperate with them. This makes sense for manufacturers outside the EU whose importers do not want to hold the documents themselves.

The authorised representative for extended producer responsibility under Article 45(3) is mandatory for producers under points c and d, in other words for companies that make packaging or packaged products available directly to end users in another Member State. They appoint an authorised representative in each of these Member States, with the exception of the country in which they are established. Member States can also require this of producers from third countries that make packaging available for the first time within their territory. Germany does so: under Section 5 VerpackDG, producers without an establishment in Germany must appoint an authorised representative with a written mandate in German before the first making available, exactly one, and name that representative during registration. The authorised representative is deemed to be the producer for the transferred obligations and acts in its own name.

The costs depend on the provider, the country and the scope of services; annual flat fees per country plus the actual disposal contributions are common. Anyone delivering directly to end users in several countries should organise the authorised representatives per country early, because without them the making available there is not permitted.

The most common mistakes

1. Role per company instead of per packaging. A company classifies itself across the board as a distributor and overlooks that it is the manufacturer of its printed shipping packaging.
2. Manufacturer and producer treated as the same. The declaration of conformity is issued in the name of the EPR producer, or the LUCID registration is assumed to lie with the manufacturer abroad.
3. Overlooking the own brand. Importers and retailers selling under their own brand continue to treat themselves as traders and issue no declaration of conformity.
4. Treating EU sourcing as an import. Anyone sourcing goods from Italy is a distributor, not an importer. The obligations differ.
5. Cross-border deliveries without looking at the recipient. Whether the recipient is an end user or distributes onward decides the producer role and the obligation to appoint an authorised representative.
6. Microenterprise rule applied the wrong way round. The microenterprise orders from another EU country and believes its supplier is the manufacturer. That only applies to suppliers in the same Member State.

How to clarify your roles in practice

1. List your packaging types. Every packaging your company places on the market, makes available or unpacks, individually, from sales packaging to stretch film.

2. Answer the manufacturer question for each packaging type. Name or trademark, filling, dimensional stability, microenterprise, Article 21. The result is one list of the packaging for which you must issue declarations of conformity, and a second list of the packaging for which you obtain them.

3. Record the target markets for each packaging type. In which Member States is the packaging expected to become waste? To companies or directly to end users?

4. Answer the producer question for each market. From this follow registrations, system participations and authorised representatives per country.

5. Involve your suppliers. Where you are the manufacturer, you need data under Article 16. Where you are the importer, you need the manufacturer's declaration of conformity. A standardised letter saves weeks, see template letter to upstream suppliers.

How Polygon One helps

In Polygon One you do not set the role for the company but for each packaging unit. Manufacturer, importer, distributor or authorised representative, plus the two Article 21 switches for own brands and modified packaging, which make an importer or distributor unit be treated like a manufacturer unit in the obligations catalogue. The switch for the producer role is separate from this and is combined with the target markets; the platform then adds the EPR registration for exactly these Member States to the unit's obligations catalogue and shows what is outstanding.

From the role and the properties of the unit, Polygon One derives the obligations catalogue automatically, so nobody maintains a checklist by hand. Where you are the manufacturer, you request the component data via the supplier portal and generate the technical documentation and declaration of conformity from it. Where you are the importer, you collect the declarations of your manufacturers and track the review status. For volume reporting in Germany, the platform exports a validated XML for LUCID.

The role assignment itself remains your decision. Polygon One maps it but does not assess it legally, and you carry out the registration in the respective authority portal yourself. If you would like to see how your product range looks in this structure, book a demo or read more on the product page for the PPWR module.

Download the self-assessment

The self-assessment walks you through both questions in two parts: manufacturer per packaging type and producer per target market. It ends with an obligations table in which you enter your results.

• Download: PPWR role self-assessment, determining manufacturer and producer (DOCX)

Frequently asked questions

Who is the producer under the PPWR?

The manufacturer, importer or distributor who makes packaging or packaged products available for the first time in a Member State or unpacks them there, without being an end user. The producer bears the extended producer responsibility there: registration, financing of disposal, volume reporting.

Who counts as the manufacturer under the EU Packaging Regulation?

Whoever makes the packaging or the packaged product or has it made under its own name or trademark. For sales and grouped packaging this is usually the filler or the brand owner, for dimensionally stable transport packaging the maker of the packaging. For films and strapping the interpretation is not uniform: the film manufacturer according to the Commission, the party applying them according to the Central Agency Packaging Register.

What does the PPWR mean for manufacturers?

Conformity assessment under Module A, technical documentation, declaration of conformity, identification and manufacturer details on the packaging, retention for five or ten years, submission to the authority within ten days.

Who is affected by the PPWR?

Every company that makes, imports, distributes, fills or unpacks packaging or packaged products in the EU. Which obligations apply depends on the role per packaging and per Member State.

As a contract filler, am I still the producer?

Not any more for the own brands of your clients. The client is the manufacturer and, within the country, also the producer. You supply the data under Article 16. For goods under your own brand you remain manufacturer and producer.

Do I have to register with LUCID again?

No, if you were registered under the German Packaging Act. Changes, such as new brand names or an authorised representative, must be added by 12 November 2026. Anyone becoming a producer for the first time had to register by 12 September 2026.

When do I need an authorised representative?

If you make packaging or packaged products available directly to end users in another Member State, in each of those countries. Germany additionally requires one from every producer without an establishment in Germany.

Sources and status: Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (OJ L, 22.1.2025), Article 3(1) points 13 to 18, Articles 15 to 22, 44 to 46. Commission guidance document C/2026/3702, sections 2 and 3. Commission FAQ on the PPWR, 2nd edition (August 2026), sections II (in particular questions 5 to 9) and X. Central Agency Packaging Register, distinction between manufacturer and producer and system participation for own brands and imports (as of 12 August 2026). Packaging Implementation Act, Federal Law Gazette 2026 I No 207, Sections 5 to 10, 66, 68. This article describes the legal position as of September 2026 and does not replace legal advice.