When I first started building up émigré, it was always my intention for it to be a European shop.
Working from Amsterdam with independent perfumers and creators from across Europe and beyond meant that shipping within the European Union was, for me, a natural part of the shop. After all, cross-border sales should be relatively straightforward, particularly within the European single market.
Unfortunately, I have had to decide to suspend shipping to all EU countries outside the Netherlands for the time being.
The reason for this is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and the way in which the new European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is currently being implemented.
Let me make one thing clear from the outset: I support the underlying principle of this legislation. Companies must take responsibility for the packaging they put into circulation, and from the very beginning, émigré has consciously opted for recyclable shipping materials and the most sustainable packaging methods possible.
The problem does not lie in the principle. The problem lies in its practical implementation.
Until recently, I thought these obligations could be dealt with relatively easily via a specialist EPR service provider. I therefore carried out extensive research into the available options and recently attended a webinar to better understand how the new rules would work in practice.
What emerged from this was considerably more complicated than expected.
Engaging a paid intermediary does not automatically mean that this party also acts as my official representative for extended producer responsibility in every EU country where I sell my products. At the same time, existing obligations towards national organisations remain in place. For France, for example, émigré is already affiliated with CITEO, but using an additional service provider does not mean that this relationship is fully taken over or that I no longer need to carry out any administration myself.
In other words: an additional paid service does not necessarily make the system any simpler. In some cases, it actually adds yet another layer of administration.
For a large company with its own compliance department, legal team and substantial turnover across several countries, this may well be manageable. For a small, independent shop that sends relatively few parcels to various EU countries, however, the administrative burden can quickly become disproportionate to the amount of packaging material that actually ends up in those markets.
This puts me in a difficult position.
I can continue to dispatch within the EU and take the risk that I may not apply a rapidly changing and complex regulatory system entirely correctly in every instance. Or I can temporarily restrict sales until I am certain that Émigré can meet all obligations in a responsible and correct manner.
I have opted for the latter.
For this reason, online orders placed with Émigré can, for the time being, only be dispatched within the Netherlands.
I genuinely regret this decision. Some of the people who have followed Émigré from the start live outside the Netherlands. The idea that the perfumes, books, incense and other special items I collect for the shop would also easily find their way to other European countries was, for me, part of the concept from the very beginning.
Moreover, it is difficult to ignore the irony that regulations intended precisely to better harmonise European packaging rules may, in practice, lead to a small business temporarily withdrawing entirely from cross-border online sales within the EU.
The PPWR is new, and its implementation will continue to evolve in the coming period. I therefore hope that clearer and genuinely workable solutions will emerge for small businesses that only send limited quantities to other Member States — for example, through better harmonisation, proportionate thresholds or services that can actually take over these obligations in full.
As soon as there is a reliable and workable way to resume shipping to other EU countries correctly, I will be happy to do so.
Until then, the online shop will remain available to customers in the Netherlands. And of course, everyone, regardless of which country they come from, is very welcome at the shop in Amsterdam.
Thank you for your understanding.