Spain’s 2026 packaging declaration is a split year: report by the 12 August cut-off, and fix your registration before 31 December

2026-11-10 · IberTrust Global

Spain · packaging EPR · declaration of 2026 packaging, filed 2 January – 31 March 2027 · based on MITECO guidance

Hypothetical example of a typical scenario: a brand based outside the EU sells kitchen tools to consumers in Spain, through a marketplace and its own website. It is registered in the packaging section of Spain’s Producer Register through its authorised representative. In January its fulfilment provider will send a spreadsheet: kilos of cardboard and plastic shipped to Spain in 2026, one total per material for the whole year.

For 2026 that spreadsheet will not be enough. Spain’s environment ministry (MITECO) says the declaration of packaging placed on the Spanish market in 2026 must follow the producer rules that applied on the date each package was marketed. Those rules changed on 12 August 2026, when the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR, Regulation (EU) 2025/40) began to apply. Depending on your situation before and after that date, you declare the whole of 2026, only 1 January – 11 August, or only 12 August – 31 December.

Filing opens on 2 January 2027. Two things are better done now: set up the data so it can be split, and use the registration-change window that closes on 31 December.

Why 2026 is a split year

Until 11 August 2026 the “producer” was defined by Royal Decree 1055/2022. From 12 August the PPWR definition prevails. MITECO describes the two as broadly compatible, but the differences hit online sellers directly:

• Transport, service and primary-production packaging. The manufacturer, importer or distributor that first makes these available in Spain is now their producer. Under Article 3(1)(8) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40, e-commerce packaging is defined as transport packaging used to deliver products in the context of a sale online or through other distance sales to the end user. The box or mailer used to ship an order is therefore transport packaging, not sales packaging.
• Direct sales from abroad. A manufacturer, importer or distributor established in another Member State or outside the EU that sells packaged products, or transport packaging, directly to end users in Spain is the producer there (PPWR Article 3(1)(15)(c) and (d)) and must appoint an authorised representative in Spain.
• Marketplaces are no longer the fallback. Under the Royal Decree, when packaged products from outside Spain were sold through a platform and the producer had not appointed a representative, the platform acted subsidiarily as producer and used the simplified declaration. MITECO says platforms lose that role from 12 August. Instead they must check your registration and obtain your self-certification before letting you sell.
• Own-brand goods made by someone else. The company that orders the product under its own brand is the producer. Only if it is a micro-enterprise does the manufacturer become the producer, and only when that manufacturer is located in Spain.

Which period you declare: MITECO’s three cases

For transport, service and primary-production packaging MITECO applies the same logic, with one addition: operators that already declared these packages under a voluntary agreement under the Royal Decree, and are producers under the PPWR, declare the whole year.

A non-EU brand that sells its own packaged products directly to consumers in Spain usually sits in the first row for its sales packaging: Articles 2(t) and 17(2) of the Royal Decree already required it to appoint a representative in Spain. The shipping box and filler need a separate look. Where the seller packs and ships the order itself, Article 2(e) treats that seller as the packer of the packaging used in distance sales. Where the transport packaging is provided by a courier or a marketplace, Article 17(5) has those companies fulfil the financial and information obligations on behalf of the producers. MITECO also states that if transport, service or primary-production packaging only becomes your producer responsibility under the PPWR from 12 August, you declare only the period after 12 August; if you already declared it under a voluntary agreement under the Royal Decree and you remain the producer, you declare the whole year. Check with your authorised representative whether you pack the orders yourself or a courier or marketplace supplies the box; do not assume the third row applies, and do not assume you must declare the whole year.

In MITECO’s own words, the cut-off is the date of the “sales contracts for the products” (fecha de contratos de venta de productos): which producer rules applied on the day the packaging was marketed. Do not substitute the dispatch date or the invoice date. For online orders, keep both the order date and the date the seller confirmed or accepted the order; if those two dates are the same, the order date can be used to make the split; if they differ, use the date the contract was formed.

What the declaration asks for

Annex IV(2) of the Royal Decree asks for the weight by material and the number of units of packaging placed on the market, broken down for each producer responsibility scheme (SCRAP) by category (household, commercial, industrial) and by single-use or reusable. Every element counts: the main body, caps and closures, handles, applicators, seals, and fastening and protection elements such as straps, filling material, bubble wrap, string and corner pieces.

Producers placing less than 15 tonnes a year use the simplified procedure. The PPWR (Article 44(8)) allows lighter reporting below 10 tonnes, but MITECO keeps the 15-tonne threshold until the Commission’s implementing act on the new data format is in place.

Step by step: prepare now, file from 2 January

1. Decide your case for each packaging type: the sales packaging of your products, the e-commerce boxes and fillers, and any other packaging that reaches Spanish end users. Write down which period applies to each.
2. Export your 2026 orders to Spanish end users with the order date, the date the seller confirmed or accepted the order, SKU, quantity and channel, and split them at 11/12 August.
3. Build a packaging bill of materials per SKU: each component, its material, weight in grams, category and whether it is single-use or reusable. Ask your fulfilment provider for the box and filler specification per order type, so you can declare them where they fall within your case.
4. Multiply and total: units × component weight, summed by material, category, period and SCRAP. Keep the unit counts too.
5. Compare your data with your registration. The categories and the SCRAP for each category must match what you will declare. MITECO’s ordinary window to change them runs from 1 October to 31 December each year. A SCRAP membership certificate must be attached within one month of joining.
6. Check the 15-tonne line to know which procedure applies.
7. Send the file to your authorised representative in early January and file between 2 January and 31 March 2027. Not declaring on time is an administrative infringement under Article 108 of Law 7/2022.
8. Keep your workings: order exports, bill of materials and warehouse specifications. They are what explains the split if anyone asks.

Common mistakes

• One annual total per material, with no split at 12 August and no unit counts.
• Leaving out small components: caps, seals, straps, filling material, bubble wrap.
• Assuming the marketplace still declares for you. After 12 August it checks your registration; it is not the producer of your packaging. MITECO notes a platform may take on certain financial obligations under a written mandate, producer by producer, but that has to be agreed and set up.
• Using only the dispatch or invoice date for orders around the cut-off, or treating the order date as the cut-off when it differs from the date the contract was formed.
• Declaring a category or SCRAP that is not on your registration. Fix the registration before 31 December, not in March.
• Counting packaging that a Spanish importer or distributor first made available in Spain. In that flow, the Spanish company is the producer.

Who this does not apply to

• Brands that only sell to a Spain-based importer or distributor that first makes the packaged goods available in Spain. Under MITECO’s decision tree that company is the producer.
• Sellers not yet registered. If you sold packaged goods directly to Spanish consumers in 2026 without registering, the first step is registration through an authorised representative, not the declaration.
• Batteries and electrical equipment. They have their own registers and reporting.
• Other EU countries. Each Member State runs its own register, deadline and data format.

FAQ

I registered in October 2026. Do I only declare from October?

MITECO ties the periods to when you were the producer, not to your registration date. Packaging you already placed on the Spanish market in 2026, before your registration was completed, still has to be included in the corresponding period, provided you were the producer under the rules that applied at the time. At registration we collect the first year you placed packaged goods on the Spanish market and the weights by material for that year, and we declare those volumes between 2 January and 31 March next year. What to check with your authorised representative is how to split the data and how to keep the evidence — not whether to leave out volumes from before registration automatically.

Is 31 December a deadline for the declaration?

No. 31 December closes the ordinary window to change your registered categories and SCRAPs. The 2026 declaration is filed from 2 January to 31 March 2027.

I placed under 15 tonnes. Do I still declare?

Yes. Below 15 tonnes a year you use the simplified procedure, but the declaration is still required.

Can my SCRAP file the declaration for me?

In Spain only with a prior power of representation registered in the Electronic Register of Powers (REA). MITECO says schemes cannot file directly without it.

Does the 12 August split also apply to my WEEE or battery reporting?

No. The split comes from the PPWR replacing the packaging producer definition. Batteries and electrical equipment follow their own rules.

Want your 2026 packaging data checked before you file?

IberTrust Global S.L. acts as authorised representative for packaging EPR in Spain and prepares registrations and annual declarations for sellers based outside Spain. Send us your 2026 order export, your packaging specifications and your current registration, and we will tell you which period applies to each packaging type and what is missing.

Request a 2026 packaging declaration review →
Or email contact@ibertrust.info.

Sources: MITECO, “Registro de Productores de Producto. Sección envases” (sections 3 and 4, consulted 10 November 2026); MITECO, Subdirección General de Residuos, “Nota interpretativa … definición de productor … Reglamento (UE) 2025/40”, version 2, 13 August 2026; Royal Decree 1055/2022, Articles 2(t), 2(e), 16, 17(2), 17(5) and Annex IV; Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR), Articles 3, 44 and 45; Law 7/2022, Article 108. General information, not legal advice.