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Information only, not legal or professional advice. Provided without responsibility, and no liability is accepted for reliance on it. Verify against the linked sources.

Packaging Rules CheckEU packaging rules for small sellers

Country directory

Packaging EPR in Bulgaria

Reviewed 2026-08-28

Written for UK and Northern Ireland sellers. Based elsewhere in the EU? Some rules here — especially who must appoint a representative — can work the other way round for you. Check the sources before acting.

Register with
The NISO waste information system, kept by the environment agency. In practice you join a licensed recovery organisation — or pay the punitive state product fee instead. Open register
Organisations
Representative
Needs checking.
Threshold
None. You have to register from your first sale.

Indicative range, not a quote

Scheme rates for 2026 are per kilogram: around 12 cents for plastics, 11 for paper, 13 to 14 for glass, with a minimum of €80 a year at Ecopack. The no-scheme fallback is the state product fee, at roughly ten times those rates.

The rates are Ecopack's and Bulecopack's published 2026 tariffs and the state fee ordinance, seen August 2026, VAT not included. Ecobulpack publishes no tariff. Confirm before budgeting.

Things to watch out for

  • Before August 2026, Bulgarian law only clearly caught companies established in Bulgaria or bringing goods in. The EU rules changed that: a foreign seller posting orders to Bulgarian customers is now the producer.
  • How a UK business without an EU base actually completes the registration is not yet published anywhere official. Ask a recovery organisation before selling, and expect to need a Bulgarian representative.
  • There is no small-seller relief: duties run from the first kilogram, reported monthly. The practical floor is Ecopack's €80 a year minimum.
  • Join a scheme or pay the state product fee. The fee is roughly ten times scheme rates, so in practice it is a penalty, not an option.
  • Monthly rhythm: report quantities to your scheme by mid-month for the previous month. The yearly report to the authorities is the scheme's job, not yours.
  • Bulgaria switched to the euro on 1 January 2026. Tariffs quoted in leva are out of date — and the official fee ordinance itself still shows the old currency.
  • There are four licensed recovery organisations, not three as many guides say. Bulgaria has no deposit scheme for drinks yet: a draft law is in parliament, with 2029 the real deadline.

Selling to more than one country?

Registration is one per country, and the rules differ everywhere. Run the checker — it lists every registration your answers point to, in about two minutes.

Sources

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