A new report is pressing the European Union to use the forthcoming Circular Economy Act to close persistent gaps between national extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes for packaging.

The report, covered by Packaging Europe, argues that member-state-level divergence in how EPR systems are designed, fee-modulated and enforced undermines the functioning of the single market and slows packaging recycling performance across the bloc.

Why do national EPR gaps matter?

EPR for packaging is already law across the EU under the Packaging and Packaging Packaging Waste framework. But each member state operates its own scheme — its own registration requirements, fee structures, eco-modulation logic and enforcement intensity. For producers selling into multiple markets, that means duplicative compliance obligations and uneven costs for the same packaging format.

The report's core position is that this fragmentation is no longer a tolerable administrative friction. It is a structural barrier to scaling collection, sorting and recycling capacity, because investors and compliance schemes cannot plan against a harmonised set of rules and signals.

What would the Circular Economy Act change?

The Circular Economy Act — announced in the European Commission's 2024–2029 work programme as a successor vehicle to the existing Circular Economy Action Plan — is the legislative hook the report targets. Rather than layering further guidance on top of the current patchwork, the report urges the Commission to use the act to:

• harmonise the design parameters of national EPR schemes
• align fee eco-modulation so the same packaging triggers comparable financial signals in every member state
• close enforcement and free-rider gaps that let some producers avoid obligations in weaker jurisdictions

The report frames these as conditions for EPR to function as intended: a market instrument that pushes design-for-recycling decisions upstream to the producer rather than a compliance tax.

What is the regulatory milestone to watch?

The decisive moment is the Commission's formal proposal for the Circular Economy Act, expected within the current legislative cycle. That text will show whether Brussels takes up the report's call to legislate on EPR harmonisation directly, or leaves scheme design to member states and the implementing acts that follow the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.

Until then, the operative framework remains the PPWR's EPR provisions as they transpose into national law — which is precisely where the gaps the report identifies will either narrow or widen.

For packaging producers, compliance schemes and reprocessors, the practical question is straightforward: whether the Circular Economy Act converts EPR from 27 divergent national systems into a single, enforceable rulebook, or leaves the current asymmetries in place.