Manufacturer, Producer, Importer or Distributor: How to Establish Your Role Under the PPWR

Almost every PPWR project starts with the same question asked the wrong way round. Companies ask what obligations they have, when the right question is what role they hold. Obligations follow from the role, and the role is not set at company level.

It is set per packaging unit. A dairy business can be simultaneously the manufacturer of the yogurt pot, a plain user of the rented crates, the importer of film brought in from outside the Union, and the producer for extended producer responsibility purposes on everything it first supplies domestically. Four roles, one company, four sets of obligations.

This article is the role determination guide. For the overall picture of deadlines and obligations, see the main article on the PPWR in FMCG.

Why the role attaches to the packaging, not the company

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 defines economic operators by what they do with a specific packaging unit, not by their line of business. Being registered as a food manufacturer tells you nothing about your role on pallet wrap.

The practical consequence is that you cannot answer a compliance questionnaire with a single role. You need a map, packaging unit by packaging unit.

The manufacturer: who it actually is

The manufacturer is answerable for technical conformity, meaning the conformity assessment, the technical file and the EU Declaration of Conformity.

Counterintuitively, the manufacturer is usually not the company that physically produces the packaging.

For sales packaging and grouped packaging, the manufacturer is normally the party that fills and seals the packaging, meaning the brand owner of the product. A biscuit producer buying printed film from a converter is the manufacturer of that packaging. The converter is a supplier, obliged to pass on the necessary information, but it does not sign the declaration.

For transport, service or primary production packaging, the logic reverses. The manufacturer is the party producing the empty packaging. The exception arises when the user marks it with their own name or trademark, at which point the user becomes the manufacturer. A neutral crate bought from a supplier stays the supplier's responsibility. The same crate with your logo printed on it becomes yours.

There is only one manufacturer per packaging unit across the entire Union. If two operators both believe they are the manufacturer of the same packaging, one of them is wrong, and duplicating the paperwork does not fix it.

There is also a reversal for micro enterprises. If the brand owner has fewer than ten employees and under 2 million euro in turnover or balance sheet total, and the packaging supplier is established in the same Member State, the supplier becomes the manufacturer. Both conditions must be met at the same time.

The producer: the EPR role, entirely separate

The producer, for extended producer responsibility purposes, is the party that first makes the packaging available on the territory of a Member State, regardless of who manufactured it.

Manufacturer and producer are not automatically the same entity. The manufacturer answers for the conformity of the packaging as a product. The producer answers for national register enrolment, tonnage reporting and fees to the compliance scheme.

For empty transport or service packaging carrying a brand, the producer is normally the party that fills it. Where no brand makes it identifiable, the producer is the manufacturer.

The rule that matters for exporters: if you resell to another economic operator rather than to the end consumer, the producer role for that Member State normally passes to the local recipient. If you sell directly to the end consumer in another Member State, it stays with you, and you need your own registration there. The PPWR harmonises product requirements, not EPR registration, which remains national.

Importer and distributor

The importer is the person established in the Union who places packaging from a third country on the market. A branch without separate legal personality does not qualify. You need either a subsidiary registered in the Union or an authorised representative.

The importer does not draw up the declaration. Its obligation is to verify, before placing packaging on the market, that the manufacturer has carried out the conformity assessment and drawn up the technical documentation.

The distributor resells packaging already placed on the Union market by someone else, without modifying or rebranding it. The main obligation is verification rather than full conformity: making sure the manufacturer or importer has met their documentation and labelling obligations.

How you become a manufacturer without intending to

Three situations move the manufacturer role onto you, even if you never touched the packaging in production.

The first is private label. A product sold under your brand makes you the manufacturer of the sales packaging, even when it is made entirely by a co-packer. For retailers this is the single largest unrecognised exposure in the portfolio.

The second is rebranding. An importer or distributor placing the product on the market under their own brand takes on the manufacturer role.

The third is modification. If you change the packaging in a way that may affect conformity, you become the manufacturer of the modified version. Repacking, adding a layer or swapping a component all fall here.

The practical test: five questions per packaging unit

For each packaging type in the portfolio, answer the following in writing. Who decides the design and specification. Who fills and seals it. Does anyone's name or trademark appear on it, and whose. Where does it come from and who first makes it available in a Member State. Has it been modified from the form in which it was bought.

Five answers give you the role. Without them, every other compliance activity rests on assumptions.

Common mistakes in FMCG

Co-packing is the most frequent. Companies assume responsibility stays with whoever runs the line. It stays with whoever's brand reaches the shelf.

Pallets and pallet wrap are second. They get treated as consumables rather than packaging, although they are transport packaging with their own regime.

Adhesive labels and hang tags are third. They are packaging when they travel with the product, and in FMCG they are almost always missing from the inventory.

Customer-supplied packaging in contract manufacturing is fourth. Here the role depends on who owns the specification and whose brand appears, not on who paid for it.

What to do with the role map once you have it

The map is not a documentation exercise. It determines three operational things: which documents you request from suppliers and which are requested from you, who signs the declaration for each packaging unit, and where you need to be registered for EPR.

Lock it into contracts. PPWR conformity clauses in supplier and co-packer agreements are the only mechanism that keeps the map accurate when a supplier or a specification changes.

Frequently asked questions

Can I be manufacturer and producer at the same time?

Yes, and it happens often. A food business selling under its own brand in its home market is both the manufacturer of the sales packaging and the EPR producer. They remain two distinct sets of obligations, with different documents and different authorities.

Who signs the declaration if a co-packer makes the product?

The owner of the brand under which the product reaches the shelf, because they are the manufacturer of the sales packaging. The co-packer supplies the information but does not sign.

My supplier says they already hold the declaration. Is that enough?

It depends what it covers. The supplier's declaration covers the packaging as they delivered it. If you fill it, seal it and sell it under your brand, you need your own declaration for the sales packaging, built on the information they provide.

What happens if I get the role wrong?

The consequence is not merely administrative. Packaging without a valid declaration issued by the correct manufacturer cannot be lawfully placed on the market, and market surveillance authorities request the document from the entity the regulation designates, not the one you designated.

Where we come in

Role mapping is the first deliverable in every PPWR project we run, precisely because everything else is built on top of it. We work from the real packaging portfolio and deliver a matrix stating, for each type, who the manufacturer is, who the producer is and which document is missing.

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