Registering for packaging EPR in France yourself — the IDU, the eco-organismes and the mandataire rule

Does this apply to you

Article L. 541-10 of the French Environmental Code defines a producer as anyone who, on a professional basis, places a product on the French market for the first time. ADEME's guidance spells out who that catches: manufacturers producing in France, importers bringing foreign products onto the French market, distributors selling under their own brand, and online marketplaces — the last of these being “responsible for the EPR obligations for products sold by third-party sellers” where the third party has not met its own obligations.

That last clause is why marketplaces chase sellers for a number: if you have no unique identification number, the platform inherits your obligation, so it will suspend your listings rather than carry it.

Two French packaging schemes exist and they are not the same filière:

• EMPAP — emballages ménagers et papiers graphiques: household packaging placed on the market since 1993 and graphic and printed papers issued to end users since 2007, merged into a single scheme on 1 January 2024. This is the one that covers anything a consumer receives.
• EPRO — emballages professionnels: professional packaging. ADEME records one PRO accredited for the current period covering catering packaging, Citeo Pro, with obligations for catering packaging having started in March 2024; three organisations — Twiice, Leko Pro and Citeo Pro — approved with effect from 5 June 2026, and obligations covering all professional packaging starting 1 January 2027. If you sell business-to-business, this is your scheme and its scope is still expanding.

The steps

The order matters more here than in Germany, because step 2 is what produces your identifier — there is no portal where you can go and get one.

1 · If you are established outside France: appoint a mandataire

Since 10 July 2026 this is a legal requirement rather than a convenience. Léko, one of the three approved household-packaging eco-organismes, states the rule as it now stands: producers established outside French territory, whether in the EU or outside it, together with online intermediation platforms not based in France, must appoint an authorised representative — under Law No. 2026-602 of 8 July 2026, codified as Article L. 541-10-9-1 of the Environmental Code, effective 10 July 2026.

The mandataire must be “a natural person or legal entity established in France”, is appointed by written mandate, and is subrogated to the producer's extended producer responsibility obligations. The practical sequence Léko describes is: sign the written mandate, submit it to the eco-organisme, sign the membership agreement, and keep the membership data updated in SYDEREP.

If you are established in France, skip this step entirely — steps 2 to 4 are yours to run.

2 · Join an approved eco-organisme — this is what gets you registered

France runs the registration through the scheme, not through the authority. ADEME's own description of the unique identification number: “a Unique Identification Number (UIN) provides proof that a producer is duly registered with the SYDEREP declaration tool for an EPR scheme”, every producer subject to an EPR scheme has been required to have one for each scheme concerned since 1 January 2022, and “if you are part of a collective scheme, the PRO you have joined will handle registering you with the declaration tool for EPR schemes (SYDEREP) and will send you your UIN”. The only route where ADEME issues the number directly is an individual compliance scheme accredited by the ministry, which is not a realistic option for a seller.

So the decision that is actually yours is which eco-organisme to join. The approved ones are listed under Choosing an eco-organisme.

The information the register needs is company identity: company name, legal identification numbers — SIRET for French companies, VAT number for EU and foreign companies — full postal address, telephone, website, and the accreditation categories that apply to you. ADEME's FAQ adds the case that catches non-EU sellers: for foreign companies, the identifier used is “the registration number issued by the tax authority in its country of residence”. From the point you submit your membership, the rest happens inside the eco-organisme's system and then SYDEREP.

3 · Check that your number exists, then publish it

Registrations are public. ADEME runs a producer search where you can look up any producer's unique identification number by company name, company ID number or the number itself, without an account: filieres-rep.ademe.fr/en/recherche-producteurs. Use it to confirm your own registration landed, and to check a supplier's before you rely on it. The underlying list is also published as open data, updated daily.

The number is then something you have to show, not just hold: under Article R. 541-173 of the Environmental Code, a producer meeting its EPR obligations indicates its unique identification number in its general terms and conditions of sale or, failing such a document, in another contractual document provided to the buyer. This is also the field marketplaces ask you to fill in.

4 · Declare, every year

The eco-contribution is calculated from an annual declaration you file with your eco-organisme. Adelphe's published cycle is representative: “la déclaration de vos emballages et de vos papiers a lieu chaque année entre janvier et février”, with a separate reuse reporting exercise in March.

How much detail you have to file depends on your size, and the threshold is generous. Léko's published 2026 tariff schedule sets out two declaration modes: the déclaration détaillée, which reports every consumer sales unit (UVC) broken down by volume, weight and material, and is compulsory for companies placing more than 500,000 UVC per year on the market; and the déclaration simplifiée, which reports only the number of UVC per product family and applies to companies below that line — who may still opt into the detailed mode if they prefer. A seller shipping a few thousand parcels a year is a long way inside the simplified mode.

Choosing an eco-organisme

For household packaging and papers, ADEME and the Ministry for Ecological Transition both list three approved eco-organismes, accredited from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2029 by orders of 23 December 2024. The list is complete — these are all of them:

• ADELPHE — adelphe.fr. Membership starts at monespace.adelphe.fr.
• CITEO — citeo.com. Adelphe is part of the Citeo group; the per-kilogram tariff behind both is the same schedule, which is why the rate rows on this site are verified against it.
• LEKO — leko-organisme.fr. Membership starts at producer-app.affiliate.leko.eco.

A fourth body, OCAPEM, is accredited until 31 December 2029 as the coordinating organisation for the filière. It is not a scheme you join — it coordinates between the eco-organismes and distributes the collection and treatment support obligations.

For professional packaging, ADEME records Citeo Pro (citeopro.com) as accredited for the current period, and Twiice, Leko Pro and Citeo Pro as approved with effect from 5 June 2026.

Unlike Germany, the per-kilogram tariff here is a published schedule rather than a negotiated price, so the eco-organismes compete on service, declaration tooling and modulations rather than on a secret number. That makes the choice lower-stakes than it looks — and it makes the published tariff the right thing to read before you join. Ours is on the France page.

Reporting: what you file and when

• Annual declaration, filed with your eco-organisme in the January–February window, in its own portal. It is the declaration, not the registration, that sets what you pay.
• Simplified mode below 500,000 consumer sales units a year: number of UVC per product family. Detailed mode above it: every UVC by volume, weight and material.
• Reuse reporting — a separate March exercise for producers with reusable packaging.
• Keep SYDEREP current — membership data is updated through the eco-organisme, and a mandataire declares the market placements for each producer it represents through the eco-organisme in a collective scheme.

Modulations — bonuses and maluses on the base rate — are applied through the declaration, not negotiated. The malus tiers and what triggers them are on the France rate table alongside the base rates.

When you actually need a provider

• You are established in France — you need no intermediary at all. Join one of the three eco-organismes directly, receive your IDU through them, and file the annual declaration in their portal. Below 500,000 UVC that declaration is a count of units per product family.
• You are established outside France — EU or not — a mandataire established in France is mandatory since 10 July 2026. There is no self-service alternative, and appointing one is what makes the eco-organisme membership possible in the first place.
• You sell only to French businesses that resell — the producer is whoever first places the product on the French market, so check whether that is your French customer before buying anything for yourself.

Note the asymmetry with Germany, because it changes what you should shop for: in Germany you register yourself and buy a representative for the rest; in France the representative and the eco-organisme membership together produce the registration, so the mandataire is doing more of the work and there is less for you to run in parallel.

Marketplace-operated EPR is a third route with its own price — our side-by-side cost comparison of the three routes prices all three, and the published tariff on our France page is the number to compare any quote against.

We have no commercial relationship with any eco-organisme, mandataire or compliance provider named or linked on this page, and we take no referral fees.

What it costs

France is the easier of the two countries to price in advance, because the tariff is published.

• Eco-contribution — a published per-kilogram schedule by material, plus a per-unit sector component and percentage modulations. Every row on this site carries the source document and the date we verified it: the paper and cardboard row, the rigid PET row and the glass row are the three most sellers need; the full table has the rest, including the malus tiers.
• Mandataire — a commercial fee, quoted per provider, unavoidable if you are established outside France.
• Registration itself — issued through your eco-organisme as part of membership; ADEME does not publish a separate fee for the unique identification number.

For the contrasting case — a country where no statutory tariff exists at all and licence prices are negotiated with competing private systems — see our German registration guide and the Germany page.