It's not about the packaging really. It could be as simple as a bubble wrap envelope. The problem is having to register in every country and some of them levy fees that are insane for small artists. The EU was supposed to be a single entity with simple rules but in this case they want to make things as difficult as possible.
The article could be clearer yes but it's really an issue especially for small self employed artists selling by post in the EU. They're basically being killed off if they relied on shipping to other countries.
And the risks of non compliance are high fines. This was meant to punish AliExpress and their sellers for packaging waste but how are they going to fine Happy Goose Ltd in a basement in Shenzhen? They're not. Business in the EU however are going to be easy pickings. So the Chinese will just keep what they're doing and the EU independent artists are screwed with retarded bureaucracy.
For an Amazon it's a joke paying 200€ to register in a single country, but for an artist that may not even have single package to a certain country every year it's insane. And you can't even register when you have an order to send, you have to do it before.
It's deeply evil and totally meant to kill the little guy or girl.
There's some exceptions for small business but they're mainly bureaucratic, the hefty fees still apply.
Are we sure there isn't some single market principle that overrules the presumption that you'd have to register in every country? AFAIK generally you're allowed to operate in one country and sell things to other countries, under some principle of single market / customs union.
Yes for this there isn't, strange enough. I don't know why either. I read that part of the issue is that the EU still considers part of the waste policy a national sovereignty. But I don't know enough about that to verify that.
Absolutely nothing I can read about this regulation, apart from angry internet comments, leads me to the conclusion that someone would have to register in every EU country; additionally, that's not how any other EU regulation works.
For example I don't have to register in every EU country if I make a social media site in one EU country. I only have to register it in my country and that agency may or may not forward the information to others. The law doesn't have to say this - it's implied.
My friend, this is how lots and lots of EU regulations work. See GDOR, the AI act and probably a bunch of others.
This is the kind of stuff that's in Draghis report, and it's economically equivalent to tariffs.
This happens in lots of cases, the AI act is another example.
It's literally in the top ten stupidest things that the EU has done, and the EU has done a lot of stupid things.
Note that I am an EU citizen who's committed to the EU in general, but stuff like this is just dumb.