Packaging EPR under Ley 7/2022: who must register, and how

Spain's waste framework law, Ley 7/2022, and its packaging decree, Real Decreto 1055/2022, reshaped the obligations of anyone selling packaged goods into Spain. The rules have applied since 1 January 2023 — and they were written to include foreign sellers explicitly.

Who counts as a "producer of product"?

Under the packaging regime, the producer is the company that first places packaged products on the Spanish market. For cross-border e-commerce, that's the seller — you — whenever you ship directly to Spanish end customers. The decree makes no distinction between a Madrid-based brand and a seller shipping from Berlin, London, or Shenzhen: if your parcels arrive in Spain, you're placing packaging on the Spanish market.

The part that surprises everyone: no threshold

Many EU compliance regimes have de-minimis exemptions. Spanish packaging EPR doesn't. Registration is mandatory from 0 kg — there is no volume below which you're excused. A seller shipping ten parcels a year has the same registration obligation as one shipping ten thousand (the recycling fees scale with volume, but the obligation to register does not).

What packaging is covered

Essentially everything around your product when it reaches the customer:

• the shipping box or mailer,
• filling material, tape, and inserts,
• the product's own primary packaging (bottle, blister, pouch…),
• labels and closures, by material.

Declarations are broken down by material — paper/cardboard, plastics, metals, wood, glass — which is why keeping a simple per-unit packaging inventory pays off.

The four registration steps

1. Spanish NIF — the tax ID that anchors your file.
2. Authorized representative — non-residents must appoint a representative established in Spain. This is a legal requirement, not a convenience: the registry won't accept a foreign producer without one.
3. Registro de Productores de Producto — the registration itself, which issues your producer number.
4. SCRAP membership — joining a collective scheme (Ecoembes for household packaging) that fulfils the recycling obligation on your behalf.

The recurring part

Registration is once; reporting is forever. Every year — typically by 31 March — you declare the packaging quantities placed on the market the previous year, by material. Miss it, and your file is non-compliant even though you registered correctly.

Enforcement

Fines range from €2,001–100,000 for serious infringements up to €3.5M for very serious ones. But the enforcement channel that reaches foreign sellers fastest is the commercial one: marketplaces are required to verify sellers' EPR status and act on non-compliance — which in practice means suspended listings.

A practical checklist

• Confirm you're the producer for what you ship (no Spanish importer upstream).
• Weigh one unit of each packaging configuration you use, per material.
• Get your NIF, representative, registration, and scheme membership in place.
• Put a January reminder in your calendar for declaration data — or use a service that chases you instead.