To:  the European Commission and the European Parliament

The Single Market is broken for small creators. It is now easier, cheaper and less bureaucratic for an independent artist to ship a parcel across the globe than to send a letter to their neighbor within the European Union. 

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) was meant to make big polluters pay. Instead, it has created a disproportionate pay-to-play barrier that systematically wipes out microenterprises while favoring multinational corporations.

Multinationals with entire legal departments effortlessly absorb these compliance costs. But for an independent artisan or sole trader sending just 10 small packages a year to another EU country, being forced to register with 27 individual national registries, hire expensive local authorized representatives, pay annual minimum fees and file complex reports in different languages is financially and administratively impossible.

This system does not protect small businesses — it destroys them.

The reality: 

• The cost per unit absurdity: While major corporations pay fractions of a cent per package, a micro-business selling just 5 handmade items is forced to pay hundreds in flat registration and compliance fees just to legally ship those few parcels. 
• The myth of exemptions: There is widespread, dangerous misinformation circulating online that micro-businesses are exempt from EPR. This is false. While some countries offer minor exemptions, EPR registration and legal compliance apply to absolutely everyone with zero exceptions. The law applies from the very first gram of packaging and the very first parcel sold cross-border. If you ship one single item, you are legally treated like a massive corporation.
• Distortion of the Single Market: Instead of free movement of goods, small creators face artificial internal borders and bureaucratic extortion across member states.
• Barrier to entry for new businesses: Who can afford to launch a creative venture today when the upfront cost of legal packaging bureaucracy in Europe exceeds thousands of Euros? The EU is suffocating the next generation of entrepreneurs before they even start.
• The environmental & social paradox: EPR punishes eco-friendly local artisans making sustainable goods, while mass-production giants pay the fees and flood the market with plastic waste. Furthermore, it hits female entrepreneurs, rural creators and self-employed artisans who depend on cross-border sales for their livelihood.

Open Instagram or TikTok and you will see a devastating trend - platform feeds are flooded with posts from independant artists, makers and small shops announcing they are cancelling EU shipping or shutting down their businesses. It is heartbreaking to watch a single, poorly designed regulation destroy thousands of livelihoods, creative dreams and passion projects overnight.

Small domestic markets alone cannot sustain independent creators and people cannot wait years for Brussels to fix this in the background. We need to pay bills and buy food today.

We urgently demand that the European Commission: 

• Enact an immediate enforcement embargo (moratorium): Stop all EPR fines and cross-border registration requirements and mandatory third-party "Authorized Representatives" fees for micro-businesses effective immediately while legislation is being reformed.
• Introduce an EU-wide de minimis threshold: Completely exempt small-volume sellers and micro-enterprises from cross-border packaging bureaucracy.
• A true EU-wide One-Stop Shop (OSS): Establish a single, centralized EU portal so no sole trader ever has to register separately in 27 different member states.

 

Note: An official, formal petition addressing this structural market distortion has already been submitted to the European Parliament (PETI Committee).

By signing this campaign, you join a unified, loud voice demanding immediate relief for European creators. Sign and share this petition to protect independent European craft and fair competition! Together, we can make our voices heard!

 

Picture by: Sedanur Kunuk: https://www.pexels.com/sk-sk/photo/umelecke-malovanie-so-ziarivymi-farbami-a-detailmi-30548777/