FRANCE: OBLIGATIONS FOR PRODUCERS – EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY
Extended Producer Responsibility (REP) is an environmental principle recognised by the European Waste Framework Directive, (EU Directive 2018/851) which gives producers financial and/or organisational responsibility for the prevention and management of waste from their end-of-life products. In France, this principle translates into a system where producers must finance or organise the collection, treatment and recycling of the products they place on the market. The system is regulated at national level by the French AGEC (anti-waste) law of 2020. SOGGETTI COINVOLTI: manufacturers online retailers (either directly through their own site or through marketplaces) importers (if the manufacturer is non-European) distributors (in the case of private labels) in general, anyone who first places products on the French market OBLIGATIONS Join an eco-organism Producers must either join a collective system (eco-organism) or create their own individual system. Collective schemes are non-profit structures that collect eco-contributions and organise waste management, whereas individual schemes are autonomous solutions managed directly by the producer, which are less common. Joining an eco-organism entails paying an eco-contribution, which varies according to the type of product and the costs of waste treatment. If a product belongs to two chains, e.g. packaging and WEEE, it is necessary to join both collection chains. CITEO is the main eco-organism in France for packaging and applies a flat fee of 80.00€ for less than 10,000 quantities of units/components put on the market (CSU). The CSU corresponds to each disjointed piece that completes the packaging beyond the basic material: cap, lid, label, wrapper, etc. Besides CITEO (https://www.citeo.com/), there are other accredited eco-organisations, some of which specialise in specific product categories or waste streams. It is therefore possible to [...]