EPR Registration for Plastic Waste: Compliance for Foreign FMCG Brands

Why EPR Registration Matters for Foreign FMCG Brands

Foreign FMCG brands that sell branded products in plastic packaging in India must register as Brand Owners on the CPCB's centralised EPR portal at eprplastic.cpcb.gov.in. A company that has not registered is in breach from its first consignment, and since the Environment (Protection) Act was decriminalised in 2024 the exposure is a civil penalty of INR 1 lakh to INR 15 lakh per contravention, plus INR 1 lakh for every day the contravention continues — with cancellation of the registration itself as the sanction that actually stops the business.

The framework sits in the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, rewritten by the Extended Producer Responsibility guidelines notified as Schedule II on 16 February 2022 and amended repeatedly since — most consequentially by the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2025 (G.S.R. 73(E), 23 January 2025), which rewrote the marking rule, and the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2026 (G.S.R. 237(E), 31 March 2026), which set the recycled-content and reuse obligations. Importers and brand owners are squarely inside it: the obligation attaches to whoever puts branded plastic packaging on the Indian market, wherever the product was made. Registration is a pre-launch step, not a post-launch clean-up — customs and pollution-board enforcement both key off it.

Who Must Register: PIBO Classification for Foreign Brands

The Plastic Waste Management Rules classify entities into three categories, each with distinct EPR registration obligations:

Producers

Manufacturers of plastic packaging material — the raw packaging itself, not the finished product. A foreign company that sets up a manufacturing facility in India producing plastic packaging materials falls into this category and must register with the CPCB.

Importers

Entities importing plastic packaging material or products packaged in plastic into India. This includes foreign FMCG brands that manufacture products abroad and import them into India in plastic packaging. CBIC Instruction No. 21/2025-Customs of 2 July 2025 directs customs formations to verify EPR portal registration before clearing consignments of plastic raw materials, so the registration is now checked at the border as well as by the pollution boards.

Brand Owners

Companies that sell products in plastic packaging under their own brand name, even if they outsource manufacturing to contract manufacturers in India. This is the category most relevant to foreign FMCG brands — if your branded product is sold in India in plastic packaging, you are a Brand Owner under the EPR framework regardless of where the product is manufactured.

A foreign company can fall into multiple categories simultaneously. A brand that manufactures its own plastic packaging in India and also imports finished products would need to register as both a Producer and a Brand Owner.

Exemptions

The EPR guidelines exclude from the definition of an obligated brand owner those that are "micro and small enterprises as per the criteria of Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India". The rules do not fix their own turnover figure — they borrow the MSME classification, which the Ministry revises from time to time, so check the current investment and turnover limits before relying on the carve-out. In practice it rarely helps a foreign FMCG brand, which will normally sit well above the small-enterprise ceiling.

EPR Registration Process on the CPCB Portal

Registration is managed through the CPCB's centralised EPR portal at eprplastic.cpcb.gov.in. The process involves the following steps:

Step 1: Create an Account

Register on the CPCB EPR portal with company details. Foreign companies must use their Indian entity's credentials — the Indian private limited company or branch office that serves as the legal entity in India.

Step 2: Submit Application with Required Documents

The application requires:

• Company PAN card (PDF copy)
• Certificate of Incorporation (CIN)
• GST registration certificates for all states/UTs where the PIBO operates
• Authorised person's PAN and Aadhaar (PDF copy)
• Details of plastic packaging types, categories (I through IV), and quantities produced, imported, or used
• Proposed EPR action plan covering collection, recycling, and disposal
• Import-Export Code (IEC) for importers
• Product packaging photographs

Step 3: Pay the Registration Fee

Schedule II authorises the CPCB to "charge fee for processing of applications for registration and an annual fee" but leaves the amounts to be prescribed by the Board rather than fixing them in the rules. Fee slabs are published on the portal and are revised from time to time, so confirm the current processing fee and the recurring annual fee on eprplastic.cpcb.gov.in before budgeting.

Step 4: Obtain the EPR Registration Number

On approval the CPCB issues an EPR registration number. That number is what the marking rules require you to carry on the packaging, what your annual return is filed against, and what customs and the state boards check. Registration is not perpetual — track the renewal date and the annual fee from the portal, because a lapsed registration has the same practical effect as never having registered.

Jurisdiction

Companies operating in more than two states/UTs register centrally with CPCB. Companies operating in one or two states register with the respective State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) or Pollution Control Committee (PCC).

EPR Targets: Collection, Recycling, and Recycled Content (2025-2029)

The EPR framework prescribes escalating targets across three dimensions, differentiated by plastic packaging category. Foreign FMCG brands must understand which categories their packaging falls into and plan procurement and design accordingly.

Plastic Packaging Categories

• Category I: Rigid plastic packaging — PET bottles, HDPE containers, PP jars, rigid trays
• Category II: Flexible plastic packaging — single-layer and multi-layer pouches, wraps, bags, sachets
• Category III: Multi-layered plastic packaging — laminates combining plastic with aluminium or paper (common in FMCG snack wrappers, toothpaste tubes, shampoo sachets)
• Category IV: "Plastic sheet or like used for packaging as well as carry bags made of compostable plastics"

Collection Targets

The collection target is not category-specific and it is no longer on a ramp. Schedule II set it at 25% for FY 2021-22 and 70% for FY 2022-23, and it has stood at 100% from FY 2023-24 onwards. The target is applied to the average weight of plastic packaging material, category-wise, that you placed on the market in the preceding two financial years — so a brand that grows quickly is always chasing a number set by its own recent history.

Recycling Targets

What does escalate by category is the minimum level of recycling of the plastic packaging waste you have collected (end-of-life disposal does not count towards it):

Recycled Content Targets

These sit in Schedule II as substituted by the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2026 (G.S.R. 237(E), 31 March 2026):

The 2026 amendment also excuses the recycled-content target where another regulator — FSSAI, CDSCO, the Central Insecticides Board, or a mandatory Indian Standard — forbids recycled material in that application, and it allows a food-contact shortfall from FY 2025-26 to be carried forward for up to three years provided at least a third is made good each year. It also treats recycled content in imported packaging differently from domestically filled packaging, so an importer should read G.S.R. 237(E) itself before assuming its overseas recycled content counts against the Indian target.

Alongside the recycled-content target, the 2026 amendment imposes a reuse obligation on Category I rigid packaging, graded by container size and contents: packaging of 0.9 to 4.9 litres or kilograms rises from 10% in FY 2025-26 to 25% from FY 2028-29; packaging of 4.9 litres or kilograms and above carries 70% rising to 85% where the contents are drinking water, and 10% rising to 15% for everything else. Check the year-by-year steps in the notification before committing to a container format.

Category IV has no recycled-content obligation. For FMCG brands, Category II and III packaging — sachets, pouches, and multi-layer laminates — presents the greatest challenge. These packaging types are technically difficult and economically unviable to recycle at scale with current technology, yet the targets escalate significantly through 2029.

Marking and Labelling Requirements

This is the part of the framework that moved most recently, and material written before 2025 gets it wrong. Rule 11(1) of the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 requires plastic packaging to carry the name and EPR registration certificate number of the producer, importer or brand owner, with the thickness added for single-layer flexible packaging and carry bags. The Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2025 (G.S.R. 73(E), 23 January 2025) then inserted rule 11(1A), which allows that information to be carried by any one of four methods and made the requirement mandatory from 1 July 2025:

• a barcode printed on the packaging;
• a QR code printed on the packaging;
• a product information brochure accompanying the packaging; or
• a unique number issued under any other law.

The method chosen has to be intimated to the CPCB through the EPR portal. Two exemptions are documented: packaging covered by the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, and cases where printing is technically not feasible and the CPCB has accepted that position. Do not assume imported goods sit outside the rule — rule 11(1) names the importer as an obligated party, and the on-pack marking is the visible evidence of a registration that customs now checks. Treat the artwork change as a launch-plan item, and confirm the current text of rule 11 against the notification before committing to a packaging run.

EPR Certificate Trading Mechanism

Schedule II provides for EPR certificates, and the CPCB portal runs a "Generation & Transfer of EPR Certificates" module. Companies that exceed their collection and recycling obligations generate EPR certificates, which can be purchased by companies falling short of their targets. All transactions are recorded on the CPCB portal for auditability.

This creates a market-based mechanism similar to carbon credit trading. For foreign FMCG brands with complex Category III packaging that is difficult to recycle, purchasing EPR certificates from companies with surplus compliance provides a practical pathway to meet targets. However, the certificate market is still maturing, and prices fluctuate based on supply-demand dynamics for each packaging category.

Imports: Register Before the First Shipment

An importer of plastic packaging material, or of products packaged in plastic, is a PIBO in its own right. The obligation is triggered by the import itself, so a company that lands its first container before registering is already in contravention — the penalty clock does not wait for an inspection.

This applies to:

• Importers of plastic raw materials (polymers, resins, pellets)
• Importers of products packaged in plastic
• Brand owners importing finished goods in branded plastic packaging

Environmental registrations are increasingly cross-checked at the border, and a consignment held while a registration is obtained is expensive for anyone shipping perishable or seasonal FMCG stock. Treat EPR registration as a gating item in the launch plan alongside the IEC and the FSSAI or BIS approvals — completed before the first shipment sails, not after it lands.

Compliance Calendar for Foreign FMCG Brands

For a comprehensive list of corporate compliance deadlines, see our guide on 12 compliance deadlines foreign companies miss.

Penalties for Non-Compliance

The penalty regime changed materially in 2024. The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023 substituted sections 15 and 15A of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 with effect from 1 April 2024, decriminalising these contraventions: imprisonment is gone from section 15, and the sanction is now a civil penalty imposed by an adjudicating officer. Guidance still quoting five- or seven-year jail terms for EPR default is describing the pre-2024 law.

• Companies (section 15A): a penalty of not less than INR 1,00,000 and up to INR 15,00,000 for each contravention, plus an additional INR 1,00,000 for every day the contravention continues
• Individuals (section 15): not less than INR 10,000 and up to INR 15,00,000 for each contravention, plus INR 10,000 for every day it continues
• Registration cancellation: The CPCB can cancel EPR registration, which effectively prevents the company from manufacturing, importing, or selling products in plastic packaging in India
• Environmental compensation: The CPCB levies environmental compensation for shortfalls against collection, recycling and recycled-content targets, computed on the gap — this, not the statutory penalty, is the charge most brands actually meet

The practical impact of registration cancellation is often more severe than the monetary penalty — it halts all operations involving plastic packaging in India.

Practical Strategies for Foreign FMCG Brands

1. Appoint a Dedicated EPR Compliance Manager

Given the complexity of annual reporting, certificate trading, and packaging category management, foreign FMCG brands should designate a compliance officer within their Indian subsidiary or engage a specialised EPR compliance agency. This is especially critical for brands with multiple product lines spanning different packaging categories.

2. Audit Your Packaging Portfolio

Map every SKU sold in India to its EPR category (I through IV). Category III multi-layer packaging is the most compliance-intensive — consider redesigning packaging to shift from multi-layer laminates to mono-material flexible packaging where technically feasible.

3. Build Recycler Partnerships

Establish direct relationships with CPCB-registered recyclers and waste aggregators. This ensures reliable fulfilment of collection targets and provides a pipeline for generating surplus EPR certificates that can be traded.

4. Plan for Recycled Content Sourcing

With recycled content mandates rising to 60% for rigid packaging by FY 2028-29, foreign brands must secure supply chains for food-grade recycled PET (rPET) and recycled HDPE. India's recycled plastic supply is still developing — early mover advantage in securing recycler contracts is significant.

5. Integrate EPR into Product Launch Planning

Any new product launch in India should include EPR registration, packaging marking compliance, and recycled content sourcing as standard pre-launch checkpoints. This prevents the customs clearance delays that have affected brands treating EPR as an afterthought.

For comprehensive guidance on entering the Indian consumer goods market, explore our FDI advisory services or review our FMCG manufacturing guide covering FSSAI, BIS, and FDI.

EPR and the Broader Regulatory Landscape

EPR registration for plastic packaging is one component of a broader environmental compliance framework that foreign manufacturers and importers must navigate. Related requirements include:

• BIS certification: Mandatory for certain plastic products (PET bottles, HDPE pipes, plastic containers for food) under Quality Control Orders
• Consent to Establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO): Issued by the State Pollution Control Board, not the CPCB, and required for manufacturing units. Processing times differ substantially between states — check the specific board's service standard rather than planning to a national average
• Single-use plastics ban: The identified single-use plastic items — ear buds with plastic sticks, balloon sticks, plastic flags, candy and ice-cream sticks, thermocol decoration, plates, cups, cutlery, straws, trays, wrapping films around sweet boxes, invitation cards and cigarette packets, PVC banners under 100 microns and stirrers — have been banned since 1 July 2022. Separately, plastic carry bags must be at least 75 microns thick from 30 September 2021 and at least 120 microns from 31 December 2022; the 120-micron rule is about carry bags, not packaging film generally
• FEMA compliance: Foreign investment in Indian manufacturing entities requires FC-GPR filing and annual FLA returns

Foreign FMCG brands should also review the branch office vs subsidiary comparison to determine the optimal legal structure for Indian operations, and consider the India packaging and labelling requirements that apply beyond EPR.

Key Takeaways

• EPR registration on the CPCB portal is mandatory for all foreign FMCG brand owners selling products in plastic packaging in India, and for importers from the first consignment — confirm the current processing and annual fee slabs on the portal
• The collection target is 100% of the category-wise average weight you placed on the market in the preceding two financial years, and has been since FY 2023-24; it is the recycling and recycled-content targets that escalate by category
• Recycled-content mandates bite hardest on Category I (30% in FY 2025-26 rising to 60% from FY 2028-29), while Category III multi-layer packaging is the hardest to collect and recycle at all
• Marking has been mandatory since 1 July 2025 under rule 11(1A) — the name and EPR registration certificate number of the producer, importer or brand owner, carried by a barcode, QR code, brochure or unique number, with thickness added for single-layer flexible packaging and carry bags. The documented exemptions are Legal Metrology packaged commodities and CPCB-accepted technical infeasibility; imported goods are not one of them
• Penalties are civil, not criminal, since 1 April 2024: INR 1 lakh to INR 15 lakh per contravention for a company plus INR 1 lakh per day continuing, with registration cancellation and environmental compensation as the sharper consequences