Recently, Amazon has issued new regulations! From January 1, 2022, products exported to Germany and France without an EPR registration number or failing to submit this to Amazon will be considered illegal!

This year Amazon has introduced various new policies for store and product compliance:

1. Starting from July 16, 2021, products exported to the EU must designate an EU responsible person.

2. Starting from September 1, 2021, stores that export to the United States must purchase Amazon commercial liability insurance if their monthly sales exceed $1W.

3. Starting from January 1, 2022, products exported to France and Germany must obtain an EPR registration number and fill in Amazon.

At present, some German sellers have successively received emails from Amazon, requiring sellers to meet EPR requirements. The content of the email is as follows:

What is EPR?

EPR (Extended Producer’s Responsibility) is the EU’s "Extended Producer’s Responsibility" system. In the European Union, the collection and recycling of most post-consumer waste products are managed through the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system. Producers must pay for "ecological contribution" to ensure that their products have their management responsibilities and obligations after the end of their useful life and the generation of waste.

What is EPR product classification?

The following is the product classification applicable to [France and Germany] EPR. For these products, the EPR registration number needs to be provided to Amazon. There are 3 categories in Germany and 7 categories in France.

The relationship between EPR and WEEE, packaging law, and battery law

EPR is a management system framework that is practiced through legislation, but EPR is not the name of a law. The WEEE directive, the packaging law, and the battery law are actually equivalent to this system’s legislative practice in the European Union. From this point of view, the WEEE directive, packaging law, and battery law all belong to the category of EPR.

Matters needing attention when uploading EPR registration number

①Different EPR commodity classifications require separate registration numbers.

②German packaging law, battery law, WEEE use the following registration numbers as proof of product compliance:

DE XXXXXXXXXXXXX

What happens if I don’t register

If you cannot prove to Amazon that the product meets the EPR requirements, Amazon will be obliged to suspend the non-compliant products you publish under the EPR product category, and if spot-checked by the market, you may face a ban or penalties from the German government.

Reminder

Although the new EPR regulations will only come into effect in 2022, German sites have been rigorously checking product WEEE and other compliance, and German WEEE registration time is particularly long. With the increase in the number of registered people, the registration time has been extended a lot, considering Regarding the registration cycle, ZRLK recommends that export companies make preparations in advance.