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Triman logo in France: the sorting mark for non-EU sellers (Info-tri)

The short answer

Every product under a French EPR scheme that is placed on the market for households carries the Triman logo with a sorting instruction beside it, imported products included. Glass drink packaging for households is the one exception. The logo is fixed by decree; your eco-organisme drafts the instruction and the environment and consumer ministers accept it. Missing, they cost an administrative fine of up to EUR 3,000 for an individual and EUR 15,000 for a company per breach, which the DGCCRF can apply per product. The EU packaging label, when it applies, is meant to replace national sorting labels on packaging, but the date depends on acts not yet adopted.

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France

If you sell a product that falls under a French EPR scheme to households in France, it carries the Triman logo with a sorting instruction beside it. This holds for products you import. The logo is fixed by decree and your eco-organisme sends you the instruction. Without them, France fines a company up to EUR 15,000 per breach (L. 541-9-4), and the Ministry says the DGCCRF applies that per product (Ministry FAQ, question 9).

The EU rule on recycling symbols is in packaging recycling symbols. This page is only what France adds. The other French rules are on the France page.

Do this

  1. Check that your product is under an EPR scheme. The duty is in article L. 541-9-3 of the Code de l’environnement (copy in Ineris AIDA): every EPR product placed on the market for households, except household glass drink packaging. A product that cannot reach a household is outside it: the Ministry says that if you are sure of that, you need no logo, and if it might reach one, you need it (Ministry FAQ, question 12).
  2. Get the instruction from your eco-organisme when you join. It drafts the sorting instruction, the environment and consumer ministers accept it, and it publishes it on its website and informs its members (R. 541-12-18, copy in Ineris AIDA). The logo itself is fixed by the annex to R. 541-12-17, and ADEME says producers ask their eco-organisme for the logo to put on the product when they join (ADEME). A producer with an approved individual system proposes the instruction in its approval application (R. 541-12-19).
  3. Print them side by side on the product or its packaging (R. 541-12-21). Household packaging carries them on the packaging itself, and a sticker will do. The documents supplied with the product are a fallback for a product only, when neither it nor its packaging can carry them (L. 541-9-3).
  4. Keep the instruction by part when the parts are sorted differently, for example the product and its packaging (L. 541-9-3).

What goes where

Item Rule
Logo and instruction Side by side (R. 541-12-21), on the product, its packaging or, failing both, the documents supplied with the product (L. 541-9-3)
Household packaging On the packaging itself, a sticker allowed; never only in the documents supplied (R. 541-12-21). Glass drink packaging is outside the duty
Several parts, different sorting The instruction is given part by part (L. 541-9-3)
A packaged product One logo is enough, with the product and packaging instructions side by side
A shipping carton with sometimes wedging inside One instruction on the carton may cover the carton and the wedging
Electrical equipment that may hold batteries One instruction may cover the packaging, the equipment and the batteries
Digital version of a document Not subject to the duty

Sources: L. 541-9-3 and R. 541-12-21, both copies in Ineris AIDA; for the last four rows, the Ministry FAQ, questions 3 to 5. The carton row is the Ministry’s own example of an online seller.

A sign that EU law or another EU country’s law regulates, that is mandatory, and that tells the consumer the product has sorting rules can replace the Triman logo (R. 541-12-20). The crossed-out wheeled bin on electrical equipment and batteries is one (Ministry FAQ, question 10). It does not replace the sorting instruction, because it does not say where to take the product. A QR code does not replace it either. The instruction of another EU country can replace the French one only if it is mandatory in that country and has the same characteristics as the French one; the Ministry reads that as the same sorting gesture as in France. The case of the bin is in WEEE symbol.

Small products

Area of largest side of product or package Logo Sorting instruction
Under 10 cm2 (cylinder or sphere: under 20 cm2), no other document supplied May be digital May be digital
10 to 20 cm2 (cylinder or sphere: 20 to 40 cm2) On the product or package May be digital

Source: R. 541-12-21 (copy in Ineris AIDA).

Deadlines

The sign and the instruction apply at the latest 12 months after the sorting instruction is accepted by the environment and consumer ministers, or deemed accepted when neither objects within two months (R. 541-12-18). Where the instruction allows it, products made or imported before that deadline may be sold off for up to 6 months after the deadline (R. 541-12-18). For packaging, the sell-off covers empty packaging made or imported before it is used to pack products. A producer with an approved individual system has 12 months from the issue of its approval (R. 541-12-19). The Ministry’s FAQ counts the 6 months from the date of manufacture or import (Ministry FAQ, question 7); the article counts them from the deadline, and this page follows the article.

For household packaging, the Ministry’s table gives validation on 9 September 2021, the duty from 9 September 2022 and the end of the sell-off on 9 March 2023 (Ministry FAQ, question 7, table of streams). The other streams have their own dates in that table; electrical equipment, for example, runs from 15 December 2022. When the rules change, you have 12 months to apply the new ones, and up to 6 more months of sell-off (Service-Public).

Citeo, the packaging eco-organisme, says in its guide that Info-tri has been mandatory on household packaging and graphic paper since 1 January 2022 (Citeo). That is the date the new regime began for products placed on the market for households (decree no. 2021-835 of 29 June 2021, art. 3, copy in Ineris AIDA). The household-packaging deadline under it was , as in the Ministry’s table.

If you do nothing

The DGCCRF checks the Info-tri. The fine is an administrative one, up to EUR 3,000 for an individual and EUR 15,000 for a company, for each breach (L. 541-9-4, copy in Ineris AIDA). The Ministry applies it per product without the sign and the instruction, and says these are maximums (Ministry Info-tri page, Ministry FAQ, question 9). A producer that is not registered in ADEME’s register, has not filled it in, gave wrong data or did not show its IDU faces a separate fine of up to EUR 30,000, on top of the per-unit fine of up to EUR 7,500 per unit or tonne for a company (L. 541-9-5, copy in Ineris AIDA). That fine is for the register and the IDU, not for the marking: L. 541-9-5 leaves the Triman duty to L. 541-9-4. The IDU is on the France page.

What the EU packaging label changes

The French duty is still in the Code. The EU harmonised label of PPWR Art. 12(1) applies to packaging from 12 August 2028 at the earliest, and the Commission reads Art. 12Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. as fully harmonising packaging labelling: France may not keep its sorting label next to the EU label once that applies, and national rules on sorting instructions that might be judged disproportionate should be repealed sooner (Commission Notice C/2026/3084, point 13). The Commission also reads PPWR Art. 4(3), which applies from , as barring fines for additional national requirements on packaging that complies with the Regulation (Commission FAQ, section XV question 13). That is guidance, not law, it names no country, and no text read says whether it reaches the Triman fine on packaging. The label’s date and reach are in packaging recycling symbols.

What does not apply

  • The duty does not cover household glass drink packaging (L. 541-9-3, copy in Ineris AIDA).
  • Digital versions of documents are not subject to the duty (Ministry FAQ, question 3).

The facts for France, with their sources

FactValueSourceChecked
National ruleArticle L. 541-9-3 of the Code de l'environnement: every product placed on the market for households that falls under extended producer responsibility (EPR) under L. 541-10 I, except household glass drink packaging, carries a sign (the Triman logo) telling the consumer that the product has sorting rules. The sign comes with information on how to sort the waste or where to take it. Where parts of the product have different sorting rules, the information is given part by part. It goes on the product, its packaging or, failing both, the documents supplied with the product.Code de l'environnement, art. L. 541-9-3 (copy in Ineris AIDA, Livre V, partie législative)
National ruleImported products are covered. The Ministry says that every product under an EPR scheme and placed on the market in France carries the Info-tri, whether imported or made in France; the duty itself, art. L. 541-9-3, is for products placed on the market for households. The Ministry lists packaging, clothing, shoes, furniture, electrical and electronic equipment, toys and sports and leisure goods among them.Ministère de la Transition écologique, Mieux trier ses produits: lancement d'une campagne d'information sur l'Info-tri (16 December 2022), FAQ
National ruleThe logo and the sorting instruction go side by side (art. R. 541-12-21). On household packaging, and on packaging supplied to consumers by a restaurant business, they go on the packaging itself, glass drink packaging excepted, and a sticker will do. A small product or package may carry them on a digital medium: both, if the area of its largest side is under 10 cm2 (a cylinder or sphere under 20 cm2) and no other document is supplied with the product; between 10 and 20 cm2 (20 and 40 cm2 for a cylinder or sphere) only the instruction may be digital and the logo stays on the product or package.Code de l'environnement, art. R. 541-12-21 (copy in Ineris AIDA, Livre V, titre IV, chapitre I, partie réglementaire)
National ruleThe crossed-out wheeled bin on electrical equipment and batteries can replace the Triman logo but not the sorting instruction, because it does not say where to take the item. A QR code does not replace the instruction either. Art. R. 541-12-20 lets a producer replace the logo with another common sign regulated by EU law or by another EU country, if that sign is mandatory and tells the consumer the products have sorting rules. For the instruction, the other instruction must also have the same characteristics as the French one.Ministère de la Transition écologique, FAQ relative à la signalétique TRIMAN et l'information précisant les modalités de tri (version of 4 July 2023), question 10, on art. R. 541-12-20
Registration authorityNo authority registers the marking. The logo is fixed by the annex to art. R. 541-12-17. Your eco-organisme drafts the sorting instruction and sends it, with reasons, to the ministers for the environment and for consumer affairs; it is accepted when they accept it, or when neither objects within two months (art. R. 541-12-18). A producer with an approved individual system proposes the instruction in its approval application (art. R. 541-12-19).Code de l'environnement, arts. R. 541-12-17 to R. 541-12-19 (copy in Ineris AIDA, Livre V, titre IV, chapitre I, partie réglementaire)
Enforcement bodyThe DGCCRF checks that the Info-tri is shown. It applies the administrative fine for each breach its inspectors observe, under the Consumer Code procedure that art. L. 541-9-4 names.Ministère de la Transition écologique, FAQ relative à la signalétique TRIMAN et l'information précisant les modalités de tri (version of 4 July 2023), question 9
PenaltyNot showing the sign and the sorting instruction: an administrative fine of up to EUR 3,000 for an individual and EUR 15,000 for a company, for each breach of the information duty (art. L. 541-9-4). The fine is pronounced under chapter II of title II of book V of the Consumer Code.Code de l'environnement, art. L. 541-9-4 (copy in Ineris AIDA, Livre V, partie législative)
PenaltyThe Ministry applies the EUR 3,000 and EUR 15,000 amounts per product without the Info-tri, and says the code's amounts are maximums.Ministère de la Transition écologique, FAQ relative à la signalétique TRIMAN et l'information précisant les modalités de tri (version of 4 July 2023), question 9
Filing deadline and frequencyNothing is filed for the marking, and the deadline is a period, not a calendar date. A producer that transferred its EPR duty to an eco-organisme applies the sign and the instruction at the latest 12 months after the instruction is accepted (art. R. 541-12-18). The instruction can allow products made or imported before that deadline to be sold off for up to 6 months after the deadline. A producer with an approved individual system applies them at the latest 12 months after its approval was issued, with the same sell-off option (art. R. 541-12-19).Code de l'environnement, arts. R. 541-12-18 and R. 541-12-19 (copy in Ineris AIDA, Livre V, titre IV, chapitre I, partie réglementaire)
Filing deadline and frequencyFor household packaging, the Ministry's table gives validation on 9 September 2021, the duty from 9 September 2022 and the end of the sell-off on 9 March 2023. Other streams have their own dates in the same table.Ministère de la Transition écologique, FAQ relative à la signalétique TRIMAN et l'information précisant les modalités de tri (version of 4 July 2023), question 7, table of streams
Small-volume thresholdNone. Article L. 541-9-3 names no turnover or order-volume limit. The duty attaches to the product: every product placed on the market for households that falls under L. 541-10 I, except household glass drink packaging. Any breach of it is fined under art. L. 541-9-4.Code de l'environnement, art. L. 541-9-3 (copy in Ineris AIDA, Livre V, partie législative)
Local representativeArticle L. 541-9-3 asks for no representative.Code de l'environnement, art. L. 541-9-3 (copy in Ineris AIDA, Livre V, partie législative)

Sources

  1. Official source, opened 5 October 2026Code de l'environnement, arts. L. 541-9-3, L. 541-9-4 and L. 541-9-5 (copy in Ineris AIDA, Livre V, partie législative)
  2. Official source, opened 5 October 2026Code de l'environnement, arts. R. 541-12-17 to R. 541-12-21 (copy in Ineris AIDA, Livre V, titre IV, chapitre I, partie réglementaire)
  3. Official source, opened 5 October 2026Décret n° 2021-835 of 29 June 2021 on informing consumers of the sorting rule, art. 3 (copy in Ineris AIDA)
  4. Official source, opened 5 October 2026Commission Notice C/2026/3084, guidance on Regulation (EU) 2025/40, point 13: Art. 12 fully harmonises packaging labelling; national sorting labels and instructions. Commission guidance, not law
  5. Official source, opened 5 October 2026Commission, PPWR Frequently Asked Questions, 2nd edition, August 2026, section XV question 13: fines for additional national requirements under Art. 4(3). Commission guidance, not law
  6. Official source, opened 5 October 2026Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR), Art. 4(3), Art. 12(1) and Art. 71: national information requirements, the harmonised packaging label and its date
  7. Official source, opened 5 October 2026Ministère de la Transition écologique, Info-tri campaign and FAQ (16 December 2022)
  8. Official source, opened 5 October 2026Ministère de la Transition écologique, FAQ Triman et frises (version of 4 July 2023)
  9. Official source, opened 5 October 2026Service-Public Entreprendre, Filières REP (checked 4 August 2025)
  10. Official source, opened 5 October 2026ADEME, Filières REP, FAQ
  11. Secondary source, opened 5 October 2026Citeo, Info-tri (a scheme document, not law): the simplified Info-tri guide for packaging and paper