On 10 June 2025, EXPRA’s Managing Director, Joachim Quoden, was invited by the South African presidency of the G20 to participate in a webinar on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The event was held as part of the G20’s Resource Efficiency Dialogue (RED) under the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) and brought together around 70 participants, including representatives from the governments of G20 member countries and international organisations.
Mr. Quoden took part in a high-level panel discussion alongside Peter Börkey from the OECD and Francesca Stevens from EUROPEN. The session focused on the challenges and potential solutions for applying EPR frameworks to online sales and digital marketplaces—an increasingly important topic in the context of global trade and e-commerce.
During the discussion, Mr. Quoden highlighted a critical issue for governments: the difficulty of enforcing EPR rules in a way that ensures a level playing field. He emphasised that, without effective enforcement, national systems risk being undermined by non-compliant actors operating through international platforms. This not only creates unfair competition for compliant producers but also threatens the effectiveness of national EPR systems and local circular economies.
He called on G20 members to strengthen their enforcement mechanisms and to consider introducing binding obligations for online marketplaces to ensure that all producers—regardless of how they sell their products—contribute fairly to the costs of collection, sorting, and recycling. The discussion also underscored the importance of international cooperation and exchange of best practices to align approaches to EPR, particularly in the context of cross-border online sales.
The event was an important step in promoting greater dialogue and convergence on EPR at the global level. It reaffirmed EXPRA’s ongoing commitment to supporting transparent, fair, and enforceable EPR systems that protect both the environment and the integrity of national markets.