What EU and UK buyers need from you, regulation by regulation.

Novice. The EU’s rulebook for packaging. Since 12 August 2026, any packaging that reaches an EU customer, including the box your goods ship in, has to meet it, and your EU buyer will ask you for paperwork that proves it.

Proficient. Your buyer needs an EU declaration of conformity and technical documentation for the packaging, a heavy-metals statement (lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium together at or below 100 mg/kg) and the material and weight data for producer-responsibility reporting. Food-contact packaging also needs PFAS test evidence.

Expert. Regulation (EU) 2025/40 has applied since 12 August 2026, with no sell-off period. Food-contact PFAS limits are 25 ppb for any single PFAS and 250 ppb for the sum by targeted analysis, plus a total-PFAS limit; no harmonised method exists yet, and Commission guidance recommends total-fluorine screening first. Harmonised labels follow no earlier than 12 August 2028, pending the implementing act; recyclability and recycled-content targets apply from 2030.

Novice. The EU’s main chemicals law. It covers chemicals inside the things you sell, not only chemicals sold on their own. Most exporters meet it by telling their buyers about certain hazardous substances.

Proficient. If an article contains a substance on ECHA’s Candidate List above 0.1% by weight, you must tell your buyer, at least the substance name and how to use the article safely. Supply safety data sheets for substances and mixtures. Registration usually falls on the EU importer unless you appoint an EU Only Representative.

Expert. Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006. Article 33(1) disclosure applies per article above 0.1% w/w, and Article 33(2) consumer requests must be answered within 45 days. Article 7(2) notification to ECHA applies above 0.1% and 1 tonne a year; the EU supplier also notifies SCIP. Non-EU manufacturers register through an Only Representative under Article 8. The Candidate List changes about twice a year, most recently in February 2026, and Annex XVII restrictions apply separately.

Novice. A carbon charge on certain imports into the EU: steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen. Your EU buyer pays it, but how much depends on emissions data that only you, the producer, can give.

Proficient. Since 2026, EU importers bringing in more than 50 tonnes a year of CBAM goods must be authorised declarants and pay for the emissions embedded in them. They need your verified emissions per tonne for each product; without it they must use default values, which usually cost more.

Expert. Regulation (EU) 2023/956 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2083. The definitive period began on 1 January 2026, with a 50-tonne annual mass threshold that excludes electricity and hydrogen. Certificates go on sale on 1 February 2027, priced for 2026 imports at the quarterly EU ETS average; the first declaration and surrender are due by 30 September 2027, and from 2027 declarants hold 50% of year-to-date emissions each quarter. Suppliers provide direct (and where relevant indirect) embedded emissions per CN code and installation, verified by an accredited verifier.

Novice. An EU law that keeps products linked to deforestation off the EU market. It covers cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soya and wood, and products made from them, and it starts on 30 December 2026.

Proficient. Before placing the goods on the market, your EU buyer must file a due diligence statement. For that they need from you the location of every plot where the commodity was grown, the harvest dates and quantities, and proof that it was produced legally and without deforestation after 2020.

Expert. Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2650 applies from 30 December 2026 for large and medium operators and from 30 June 2027 for micro and small ones, with a 31 December 2020 cut-off. The first-placing operator submits the statement, and downstream operators keep its references for five years. Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102 removed hides and leather and added soluble coffee and some palm derivatives; packaging used only to carry another product is excluded. The May 2026 review proposed no further amendments.

Novice. The UK’s own carbon charge on imports of steel, aluminium, cement, fertilisers and hydrogen. It starts on 1 January 2027 and is separate from the EU’s.

Proficient. The UK importer pays once their imports of covered goods reach £50,000 over 12 months. They will ask you for verified emissions per tonne; without it UK default values apply. The first payment, for 2027 imports, is due by 31 May 2028.

Expert. Set out in the Finance Act 2026, with regulations made in July 2026. Liability runs from 1 January 2027, and the £50,000 threshold uses a backward 12-month or forward 30-day test. 2027 is a single accounting period with the return and payment due by 31 May 2028; periods are quarterly from 2028, when registration opens. Indirect emissions are excluded at the start, actual emissions need an accredited verifier, and carbon price relief needs a verification form.

Novice. A digital record that will travel with a product, telling buyers and recyclers what it is made of. It arrives one product type at a time, and nothing needs one yet except certain batteries from February 2027.

Proficient. Electric-vehicle, light-transport and industrial batteries over 2 kWh need a battery passport from 18 February 2027. Iron and steel come next, then textiles, aluminium and tyres. Start keeping material, substance, carbon-footprint and recycled-content data for each product version now.

Expert. ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, has been in force since 18 July 2024, but passports apply to a product group only after its delegated act and lead time, typically 18 months or more. The registry was due by 19 July 2026. The battery passport comes from Regulation (EU) 2023/1542. The iron and steel act is expected around the end of 2026, with textiles, aluminium and tyres in 2027. The ban on destroying unsold apparel is a separate ESPR rule.