Today, the Commission decided to refer France to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to address the incompatibility of its labelling requirements regarding waste sorting instructions, in violation of Articles 34-36 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
In France, household products under an extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme must be materially labelled with the Triman logo, indicating that the product is subject to sorting rules, and the infotri, providing information on sorting methods.
National rules establishing requirements - such as those regarding labelling - that must be met by goods from other Member States where they are lawfully manufactured and marketed, create obstacles to the free movement of goods and constitute measures of equivalent effect prohibited by Article 34 TFEU.
In the absence of EU harmonised rules concerning waste sorting instructions for consumers, national-specific labelling requirements as stipulated in French legislation amount to such measures, as these requirements compel operators to adjust their products solely for the French market.
Moreover, the French requirements can be deemed disproportionate, as other suitable options - less restrictive of trade between Member States - are available to inform consumers until EU-level harmonisation is achieved. In fact, according to the new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, harmonised rules in this respect should be detailed in future implementing acts.
According to the Commission, France is also in breach of the notification obligations under the Single Market Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2015/1535) as the concerned measure was not notified to the Commission at a draft stage, prior to adoption.
The Commission initially sent a letter of formal notice in February 2023, followed by a reasoned opinion in November 2024. Since the Commission considers that France is still in breach of EU rules, it has decided to bring the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
As highlighted in the recent Communication COM(2025)500 “The Single Market: our European home market in an uncertain world”, the Commission is committed to removing barriers that significantly hinder the ability of European companies to benefit from the Single Market, for the benefit of the EU economy and consumers.
Background
National measures that can hinder, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially intra-EU trade are measures having an equivalent effect to a quantitative restriction. National labelling requirements concerning waste sorting instructions can amount to such measures.
For More Information
Infringement decisions database and infringements map and graphs
July 2025 infringements package
Infringement procedure France (INFR(2022)4028)