eBay UK Sellers Consider Saying Au Revoir To France Due To EPR Complexities
eBay UK put out an announcement educating sellers about upcoming French Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements, but sellers say they're considering blocking sales to France all together to avoid the headache.
uk-newsebay
When selling products on eBay to French buyers, you will need to comply with relevant French Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requirements.
These requirements, defined by the Law against Waste and for the Circular Economy, make the producers responsible for the entire life cycle of the product, from design to end-of-life.
Complying with French EPR regulations isn’t just a legal requirement, it also encourages sustainability. For each EPR category you list in, you’ll need a Unique Identification Number (UIN).
Importantly, these regulations do not apply to private sellers, a point eBay highlighted in the step by step guide video they produced to try to convince sellers who will be impacted that compliance is easier than they may think.
That message is clearly designed to try to help quell concerns and avoid a knee-jerk reaction of sellers blocking all sales to France in response, but at just over 2 minutes long, it does not really do justice to the much longer and much more complex policies laid out in help pages.
But sellers in the eBay UK community were not convinced, saying they already have or will block sales to France in the face of these regulations.
vinylscot
This just looks like too much hassle. Unique Identification Numers for my packaging?? Don't think so.
Bye Bye France.
Just been reading the seller announcment & watched the video to go with it.
Didn't like the look of this:
"If you don’t comply with the UIN regulations, eBay may charge you the corresponding eco-participation fee. This may be more expensive than paying the recycling organization directly."
France now blocked!
Just looking at some of them recycling organisations...Now it looks like you need to learn french to even read the website. Then you need to learn the french legal system...
No thanks.
Many sellers did the same with Germany when similar regulations were introduced there in 2022.
Liz Morton
Are you planning to block France rather than comply with Extended Producer Responsibility requirements? Let us know in the comments below!
