What it is, what happened, who decided, what is being done, where to act. · updated 2026-09-02 · Ask about this act →
One directly applicable EU regulation replacing the 1994 directive: it sets what packaging may be placed on the market (recyclability, recycled plastic content, empty-space limits, bans), how it must be labelled, and who pays for its waste. The payer is the 'producer' — whoever first makes a packaged product available in a given member state — through that state's extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme.
Since 2026-08-12 anyone shipping a packaged product to a buyer in another EU state counts as a producer THERE: they must register in that state's producer register, pay its packaging fees and — under Article 45(3) — appoint in writing an authorised representative established there. 27 registers, 27 representatives, 27 fee schedules. The fixed costs are the same for a multinational and for a one-person workshop sending two parcels a year.
Every record: lobbyists, meetings, amendments, votes → · All preparatory documents →
Is the Lithuanian government to blame?
Not for the obligation itself. The regulation applies directly; in August 2026 the Ministry of the Economy confirmed in writing that per-country registration and the authorised-representative duty 'flow directly from the Regulation' and Lithuania cannot soften them nationally. But three things stay national: (1) Lithuania's position in Council — both when the act was negotiated in 2022–2024 and in 2026 on the Commission's proposal to suspend it; (2) the national register's procedure, fees and reporting forms; (3) penalties and their enforcement — in August 2026 the Commission itself urged states not to impose sanctions for now.
Who came up with registration and a representative in every country?
This can now be checked against documents rather than accounts. The duty to appoint a representative in every member state was already in Article 40(2) of the Commission's 2022 proposal and survived word for word into the Council's general approach (Dec 2023) and the final compromise (Mar 2024); in the act in force it is Article 45(3). The Council did not insert it — it narrowed it, scoping it to a defined category of distance-selling producer. So Commissioner Sinkevičius's account, that the original proposal carried no such burden and that the text drifted because of member states, does not match the texts we hold on this particular duty. What was said inside Council meetings remains unknown: there is no vote record. But the negotiating texts are public, and the duty stands in them from day one.
Did anyone warn in advance?
Barely. Before adoption (2022–2024) per-country registration and fees were raised 32 times in the consultations; the fight was over reuse targets and bans. In 2025–2026 the same theme has 2,119 mentions and SME burden 2,949. The pain arrived with application, not with deliberation.
Did today's Lithuanian MEPs vote for this?
Only some. The act was adopted in the 9th term (votes on 2023-11-22 and 2024-04-24); the current 10th term was elected in June 2024. Both lists are below: who voted then and who represents you now. The current members decide whether the Commission's proposal to suspend the representative rule passes.
Did Lithuania say anything about the proposal before it was adopted?
There is no public record. The Seimas has a document series for exactly this — a specialised committee's conclusion on an EU proposal, naming the ministry that drafted the national position and its arguments. We hold 1,256 of them, but the series ends in July 2016 and this proposal was tabled in 2022. The Seimas register shows only that COM(2022) 677 was received on 2022-12-01. Later positions are prepared in the Foreign Ministry's LINESIS system, which is not publicly accessible, and the Government publishes only a one-page decision approving 'the positions submitted by the ministry' without their content. So what Lithuania argued about Article 45 in the negotiations is a document-request question, not a search question — it can be asked of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs or the Foreign Ministry.
Vote 'on the amended Commission proposal' at first reading. Contact form and e-mail are on the EP profile.
| Member | Group | Party | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS · then and now | Renew | LRLS | for |
| Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ · then and now | S&D | LSDP | for |
| Stasys JAKELIŪNAS | Verts/ALE | Ind. | did not vote |
| Rasa JUKNEVIČIENĖ · then and now | PPE | TS-LKD | for |
| Andrius KUBILIUS | PPE | TS-LKD | for |
| Liudas MAŽYLIS · then and now | PPE | TS-LKD | for |
| Juozas OLEKAS | S&D | LSDP | for |
| Bronis ROPĖ | Verts/ALE | LVZS | for |
| Aušra SEIBUTYTĖ | PPE | TS-LKD | for |
| Waldemar TOMASZEWSKI · then and now | ECR | LLRA | abstained |
| Viktor USPASKICH | NI | Darbo partija | for |
| Member | Group | |
|---|---|---|
| Vytenis Povilas ANDRIUKAITIS | S&D | EP profile ↗ |
| Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS · then and now | Renew | EP profile ↗ |
| Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ · then and now | S&D | EP profile ↗ |
| Petras GRAŽULIS | ESN | EP profile ↗ |
| Rasa JUKNEVIČIENĖ · then and now | PPE | EP profile ↗ |
| Liudas MAŽYLIS · then and now | PPE | EP profile ↗ |
| Paulius SAUDARGAS | PPE | EP profile ↗ |
| Virginijus SINKEVIČIUS | Verts/ALE | EP profile ↗ |
| Waldemar TOMASZEWSKI · then and now | ECR | EP profile ↗ |
| Aurelijus VERYGA | ECR | EP profile ↗ |
| Dainius ŽALIMAS | Renew | EP profile ↗ |
A regulation applies directly, but authorities, the register and penalties are set by national law — these are its amendments.
| Bill | Status | Registered | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XVP-1673 | Pakuočių ir pakuočių atliekų tvarkymo įstatymo Nr. IX-517 pakeitimo įstatymo projektas (nauja redakcija) | Registruotas | 2026-06-23 | documents |
| XVP-1677 | Pakuočių ir pakuočių atliekų tvarkymo įstatymo Nr. IX-517 2, 6, 7, 7-1, 7-2, 10, 11-2 straipsnių pakeitimo ir Įstatymo papildymo 10-1 straipsniu įstatymo Nr. XV | Registruotas | 2026-06-23 | documents |
How many of each country's own laws in our corpora rest on this act — a measure of size, not a transposition score.
How each country transposed it →
At most two articles per outlet; the full press record is on the footprint page.
Every statement on this page rests on a document or article in this list or on the link beside the statement. Correspondence is not an official document: it is labelled.
Reply to appeal G-2026-7942 forwarded by the Seimas committees. Copy provided by the addressee; not published on an official site.
[LT original] Regulation (EU) 2025/40 is a directly applicable EU act, so the EPR requirements it lays down – including the producer's duty to register in each member state to whose market it supplies packaging and the currently applicable duty to appoint an authorised representative – flow directly from the Regulation, not from national regulation.
[LT original] The Ministry of Environment has already drafted and circulated amendments to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Management Act [...] so it is that ministry that forms and coordinates Lithuania's negotiating position on the EPR simplification initiative (COM(2025) 982).
Reply to a business owner, made public by the recipient. Not an official document — a personal position.
[LT original] The Commission's original proposal did not envisage such an administrative burden on small business [...] Unfortunately the final version of the regulation drifted significantly from that vision. That happened because of the member states' own positions in the EU Council.
[LT original] The Commission recommends that member states not apply this rule until the end of the year; in that time a solution is expected — a minimum threshold (EUR 10 million annual turnover) [...] or deferral to 2035.