New EU rule! First retailers suspend shipping.
A new EU packaging regulation is causing serious problems for Austrian businesses, with some small traders already stopping deliveries to several EU countries because of rising costs and bureaucracy.
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is designed to make packaging more sustainable and environmentally friendly. However, Austrian traders say the new requirements are creating a heavy administrative burden, particularly for small businesses that sell products across European borders.
One affected business is run by Martina Wächter in Großweikersdorf, Lower Austria. Her company sells personalized teddy bears, wooden toys and memory boxes, sending up to 15,000 packages a year to customers across Europe. Under the new rules, she says she would need to register in each of the 27 EU countries where she sells and appoint authorized representatives.
As a result, Wächter has stopped shipping to several countries, including Luxembourg, Italy and Belgium. She will continue deliveries to Germany because she considers the additional effort worthwhile, as well as to Switzerland. According to her, dealing with each additional EU country can cost around €300 in administrative expenses.
The new regulation also introduces stricter requirements concerning packaging materials. Among other measures, it includes restrictions on certain substances such as PFAS and limits the amount of empty space allowed inside packages. Businesses must also collect additional documentation and provide evidence that their packaging complies with the new rules.
For Wächter, even obtaining the required paperwork for her 16 different types of packaging creates significant additional work. She says small companies do not have the time or financial resources to deal with the same level of bureaucracy as large corporations, warning that the costs could become a serious threat to small businesses.
Larger companies are also feeling the pressure. Austrian online retailer Niceshops, which generates around 88 percent of its sales through exports, says two employees are currently working full-time on understanding and implementing the new requirements. The company fears that increasing bureaucracy could make cross-border trade within Europe increasingly difficult.
The controversy has raised questions about whether a regulation designed to make Europe’s packaging more sustainable could unintentionally make the EU’s single market harder for small businesses to use. Critics argue that large companies can absorb the additional costs, while smaller online retailers may simply stop selling to customers in other EU countries.