this article is a bit confusing because it talks about businesses outside of the EU. the PPWR affects businesses within the EU even more. businesses outside have a good chance to get away with ignoring the regulations because the EU will have a tough time to enforce them outside their borders. businesses in the EU however have no chance to escape.

and this isn't just tabletop games. this is any business shipping anything anywhere. even when just shipping a single package in a year. the problem is that compliance costs several hundred dollars per country per year. among other things, a representative needs to be named for each country[1]. those are going to cost money. that means unless you make thousands of dollars in profits in any single country, you can't afford shipping to that country any more.

realistically speaking, this law is so dumb that i expect that we'll see a revision soon, because it effectively destroys the EU single market for small businesses.

there is talk about exceptions for micro-businesses, but for one those seem to be optional, and they may not apply to cross-border shipping which is the big problem here.

[1] i looked it up: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2025/40/oj/eng

(paragraph 123) when the packaging or the packaged product is made available by means of distance contracts directly to the end user, the producer could also be established in another Member State or in a third country. In such cases, if the producer is established in another Member State, it should appoint an authorised representative for the extended producer responsibility in the Member State where the end user is located.