Who must register for packaging EPR in Czechia, and how

Checked against the consolidated text of Act No. 477/2001 Sb. on 29 September 2026. This is general information about Regulation (EU) 2025/40 and Czechia's national EPR scheme, not legal advice. Thresholds, fees, penalty amounts and go-live dates come from national law and PRO schedules that change, treat every figure as needing a fresh check, and confirm anything you act on with the national authority or qualified counsel.

The register and what it involves

The Ministry of the Environment (MŽP) supervises (enforcement also via the Czech Environmental Inspectorate, ČIŽP). In practice producers meet their obligations by contracting with an authorised packaging company (PRO); EKO-KOM is the dominant scheme (a “Contract on Collective Fulfilment”). A producer that runs its own take-back instead applies to the Ministry for entry in its list of persons (Seznam osob) within 60 days of the obligation arising (s14 of Act No. 477/2001 Sb.).

You sign a collective-compliance contract with a PRO, pay a one-off registration fee (around €66 excl. VAT with EKO-KOM) plus ongoing per-material fees, and keep records of packaging placed on the market. The contract sets how often you report: EKO-KOM's standard arrangement is a quarterly statement of weights by material, due within 30 days of quarter-end.

The Authorised Representative rule

For most packaging, Czech law makes a representative (pověřený zástupce) optional: a producer not established in Czechia “may” appoint one (s13a(1)). It becomes mandatory only for a business that sells the single-use plastic items listed in Annex 4 parts C or D by distance sale, from another state, directly to Czech consumers or other end users (s13a(2)). A representative must be a business established in Czechia, appointed by written contract (s13a(4)). It takes on your obligations under the Act, other than the product requirements in ss3 to 6, and files for entry in the Ministry's list in its own name (s13a(5), s14(3)). EKO-KOM itself cannot act as your representative (s20(10)).

EU law adds its own trigger. Since 12 August 2026, Article 45(3) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 has required a producer that makes packaging available directly to end users in a member state where it is not established to appoint an authorised representative for EPR there. That includes EU-based producers selling cross-border into Czechia. If you supply Czech resellers who pass the goods on unchanged, you are not the producer in Czechia and Article 45(3) does not catch you. A proposal to suspend Article 45(3) until 2035, COM(2025) 982, stalled when the Council ended negotiations on it in April 2026 and left it out of its 24 June 2026 mandate; the rule applies now.

De-minimis: both conditions

You are exempt from the duties in ss10 to 15 only if, in a calendar year, you place ≤ 300 kg of packaging on the market and your turnover is ≤ CZK 25 million (around €1m) (s15a(1)). Exceed either and full obligations apply; as soon as it is clear you will miss either condition in a year, you must start complying (s15a(2)). Record-keeping is still required in practice, because you must prove both conditions if an inspector asks (s15a(3)). This is a genuine de-minimis that helps small sellers.

Reporting and penalties

With EKO-KOM, your contract sets the reporting cadence (see above). A producer on the Ministry's list reports the previous calendar year's data by 15 February and keeps supporting documents for at least five years (s15(1)). The fine bands in s45(1) run up to CZK 500,000 for failing to apply for entry in the Ministry's list, up to CZK 1,000,000 for breaching the record-keeping and reporting duties, up to CZK 5,000,000 for failing to appoint a representative where s13a(2) requires one, and up to CZK 10,000,000 for failing to arrange take-back or recovery of your packaging waste or for placing packaging that breaks the s4 conditions, which include the heavy-metal limit.

How onerous is it?

Moderate. A genuine de-minimis helps small sellers, and a Czech representative is optional for most packaging. The bar rises if you sell direct to Czech end users from abroad, where Article 45(3) requires a representative, and further if those sales include the single-use plastic items in Annex 4 parts C or D.

Frequently asked questions