Selling to France from the USA: EPR, VAT and labelling rules for non-EU sellers

France applies the EU rules and adds its own on top. The table above lists each national rule with its local name and the body that runs it. The EU rule behind each row stays in the EU guide the row links to.

The representative duty reaches every EPR stream

A seller not established in France appoints a representative established in France for every EPR stream it is subject to: packaging, electrical equipment, batteries, textiles, furniture and the rest. The duty is in article L. 541-10-9-1 of the Code de l’environnement, added by loi no. 2026-602 of 8 July 2026 (law file at the Sénat). It binds a seller from any country, EU included. The representative takes over every EPR duty named in the written mandate. The appointment is treated as made where an operator established in France, named in article L. 541-10-9, already meets the EPR duties for those products. The mandate and the representative’s role are on France packaging EPR; the EU rule is in authorised representative for EPR.

One IDU per stream, issued by ADEME

ADEME issues the IDU once you are registered in SYDEREP. A collective scheme registers you and sends it. You give the IDU to marketplaces and buyers who ask, and a producer with a website shows it there, in the same place as the notices of article 19 of the law of 21 June 2004. Without an IDU, you face an administrative fine of up to EUR 30,000, on top of up to EUR 7,500 per unit or tonne (L. 541-9-5, copy in Ineris AIDA). For the streams other than packaging, a marketplace also counts as the producer for your quantities unless it holds proof of your IDU. For packaging, no source read dates after 12 August 2026, when the EU packaging regulation began to apply, so this page does not state that rule. What each form field asks is on EPR registration number in France; what an EPR number is, in every country, is in EPR number in the EU. The five main streams and their eco-organismes are in the table above. Service-Public counts 21 streams in all, and the EU rule for each is in the EPR guide. The streams have pages of their own. Packaging is on France packaging EPR, electrical equipment on WEEE in France, and batteries on France battery EPR. Textiles are on textile EPR in France, furniture on France furniture EPR, and the rest on AGEC law and the other EPR streams.

Triman and sorting instructions go on the product or its packaging

A product subject to EPR and placed on the market for households carries the Triman logo (household glass drinks packaging is exempt, L. 541-9-3, copy in Ineris AIDA), or another sorting sign that EU or member-state law makes compulsory (the crossed-out bin on electrical equipment is one). The sorting instructions sit beside it, on the product or its packaging (Service-Public). Household packaging carries them on the packaging itself, or on a sticker on it (R. 541-12-21, copy in Ineris AIDA). The rule in full, with the deadlines and the small-product exceptions, is on Triman logo in France. The EU marks are in packaging recycling symbols.

VAT: an accredited fiscal representative

A business established outside the EU that owes French VAT appoints one accredited fiscal representative in France, unless its country has a mutual-assistance instrument with France, listed in the arrêté of 15 May 2013 (BOFiP). Its VAT number comes from the tax office (SIE) of its representative; a business on that list deals with the SIEE at Noisy-le-Grand. Without a representative, French law makes your customer liable for the VAT and penalties too, but you remain the taxpayer the tax office assesses. Other narrow routes exist: the mandataire à l’international for imports and exports, and IOSS through an intermediary. The French side is on France VAT registration. The EU side, including those routes, is in fiscal representative and EU VAT for online sellers.

Parcels of EUR 150 or less: no French small parcel tax since 1 July 2026

France taxed each item in a consignment under EUR 150 declared in the simplified H7 declaration at EUR 2 from 1 March 2026. French customs states that the tax was repealed on 1 July 2026, when the EU’s flat EUR 3 customs duty began, so a parcel imported from that date pays EU customs duty and import VAT, and no French tax, so there is none to pass on to a French buyer (French customs, 8 July 2026). The Ministry of the Economy announced it on 30 June 2026 as a suspension (press release no. 850). A consignment worth more than EUR 150 pays the ordinary tariff duty and import VAT instead of the EUR 3. Who owes the EUR 3, how it is counted per item and what changes for IOSS are on the EUR 3 customs duty.

French on the product, and the DGCCRF

French is compulsory on the designation, offer, instructions and guarantee terms of goods sold in France, online too (Ministry of Culture). The DGCCRF checks it, and is also the control authority for product safety under the GPSR. For a failure to carry out the GPSR measures of art. 9(8) or 11(8) (corrective action, informing consumers, notifying the authorities), an individual faces up to five years in prison and EUR 600,000. A company faces up to five times that fine (Ministry of Justice, Code pénal art. 131-38). The fine may rise, in proportion to the gain from the offence, to 10% of average annual turnover (L. 452-5-1). The French duty does not apply to documents such as invoices exchanged between professionals; invoices and receipts to consumers are in French. What France adds to the GPSR is on France product safety. The EU rules are in GPSR and GPSR fines. The EU rule on manuals is in user manual requirements.

Website legal notices: the sources address businesses in France

A professional website run by a business established in France shows its identity, contacts, host and registration numbers, and missing notices carry up to one year in prison and EUR 75,000 for a sole trader or EUR 375,000 for a company (Ministry of the Economy). The sources address businesses established in France. None says whether the duty reaches a seller established outside France.