European Brands Association joins 60 industry groups opposing state-run Producer Responsibility Organizations; groups warn system undermines waste management progress and recycling targets for 2025

Brussels,16 May 2025. AIM – the European Brands Association – has joined over 60 European and national associations in opposing the recognition of state-run Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs) in the revised Waste Framework Directive (WFD), as well as in the new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation and Batteries Regulation.

The signatories express strong concern that state-run PROs undermine the core purpose of extended producer responsibility. State-run PROs often act as a form of taxation, with limited transparency and no guarantee that collected fees are reinvested into waste management, in line with the polluter pays principle. This risks reversing progress made since the 2018 revisions of the Waste Framework Directive and Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, particularly as two-thirds of Member States are expected to miss their 2025 packaging recycling targets. It is regrettable to see the adoption of state-run PROs in Hungary and Croatia, with a decline in recycling performance, and the latest actions in Poland to repeal the existing PROs system in favour of a state-run one.

AIM therefore calls on EU legislators to take decisive action within the upcoming Circular Economy Act to prohibit state-run PROs and to eliminate exemptions from the minimum requirements set for PROs under Article 8a of the WFD. It also urges the European Commission to open a dialogue with the Polish government regarding the risks posed by its draft EPR legislation.

AIM stands firmly with its fellow signatories in reaffirming the importance of producer-led responsibility, transparency, and effective investment in Europe’s circular economy.