Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) data reporting regulations latest - what Member businesses need to know
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has made changes to the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) data reporting regulations that apply across all four UK nations. AIC Policy Manager Andrew looks at the detail.
The main focus of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) data reporting regulations that will affect Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) Member businesses in the agri-supply sector is the definition of "household" packaging – this now falls to a two-stage test that considers:
- Whether a product being packaged is designed only for use by a business or a public institution, and;
- The packaging for that product is not reasonably likely to be disposed of in a household or public bin
The latest rules apply to businesses in England, Scotland and Wales from 1 April 2024, and from 1 May 2024 in Northern Ireland.
It is important to note that packaging that satisfies only one of these tests will be treated as household packaging.
New regulator guidance has also been issued to support this definition and takes into account such things as the size and weight of the packaging and how available a product that is being packaged will be to consumers.
A useful summary of who is affected by EPR for packaging and how to comply is available on the GOV.UK website.
EPR 2023 data reporting submission reminder
If your business needs to report data under the new EPR scheme, the deadline for submitting your 2023 data was extended from 1 April 2024 to 31 May 2024 under the Regulatory Position Statements issued by the Government in September 2023.
This submission should include your packaging data and your organisation data for January to June and July to December 2023. This requirement has some national variations; more details on collecting and submitting 2023 data can be found on the GOV.UK website.
Businesses may need to report additional data depending on the type of packaging activity they carry out. If your business is a Member of a compliance scheme, then the scheme is able to submit this data on behalf of that business.
To check if your organisation needs to report packaging data, see Defra's guidance on who is affected and what to do. If necessary, follow the online instructions to access the new Report Packaging Data service.
If your business needs to submit packaging data under EPR, there is a handy downloadable spreadsheet file available on the GOV.UK website which can help with generating a valid packaging data file, or allow businesses to check how your file should be structured before creating one of their own.
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