Yes, if professional packaging applies to you — the IDU is per stream, not per company. A producer caught by household packaging and professional packaging holds one identifier for each, and a producer caught by packaging, electricals and batteries holds three. Your existing IDU is unaffected and stays valid: nothing about it is reissued or renumbered because a new stream starts. Two things carry over rather than repeating — the representative mandate, which can cover every stream at once, and your relationship with the eco-organisme group if it runs schemes in both. What does not carry over is the membership itself: professional packaging has its own eco-organismes and its own declarations.Sources (2)
ADEMEADEME — all about the unique identifier (IDU)
LégifranceLégifrance — article L. 541-10-9-1 of the Environmental Code (full text)
One identifier per stream
Since 1 January 2022 every producer subject to an EPR scheme must hold a unique identifier — the identifiant unique, or IDU — issued by ADEME through SYDEREP once the eco-organisme has registered you. It certifies that you are registered for that stream.
ADEME makes the per-stream logic explicit with its own example: a mobile phone can fall under electrical equipment, batteries and household packaging at once. That is three streams, three registrations, three identifiers, for one product. Professional packaging behaves the same way. It is a separate filière with its own approved eco-organismes — Citeo Pro, Léko Pro and Twiice, approved on 5 June 2026 — so it carries its own identifier.
What happens to what you already hold
| Effect of the new stream | |
|---|---|
| Your existing IDU | Unchanged. It stays valid, keeps its number, and is not reissued |
| Your household packaging membership | Unchanged. Professional packaging does not replace it |
| Your declaration history | Unchanged. It stays with the stream it belongs to |
| Your representative mandate | Extendable. One mandate can cover every stream — no second mandate needed |
| Professional packaging | New. Its own membership, its own IDU, its own declarations |
First check whether you are actually caught
Holding a household packaging IDU does not mean professional packaging applies to you. The two streams are divided by the arrêté of 2 December 2025, and the division is about the packaging rather than the customer. Most online sellers shipping to French consumers are not newly caught, because e-commerce packaging sent to private individuals stays in the household stream even though it is transport packaging.
You are likely caught if you place pallets, palletisation items, IBCs or big-bags, drums or buckets over 29 litres, crates over 15 litres, or transport packaging for business customers on the French market. Work it through in household or professional packaging.
The mandate is the part that does not repeat
This matters commercially. Article L. 541-10-9-1 requires a producer not established in France to appoint, by written mandate, a representative established in France. It does not require one mandate per stream. A producer already represented for household packaging adds professional packaging to the same mandate, and the representative joins the new eco-organisme in your name.
So the work for an existing client is the membership and the identifier, not a fresh appointment. That is also why a provider charging you a second setup fee for a second stream is worth questioning — ours is published in pricing, and every competitor's in market data.
Timing
ADEME asks producers to join an eco-organisme for professional packaging before 31 December 2026, ahead of the scheme's operational start on 1 January 2027. For an already-registered producer the sequence is shorter — no new mandate — but the membership and the IDU still take time, and everyone else is doing it in the same quarter. The full order of operations is in what to do before 1 January 2027.
Frequently asked questions
Does my existing IDU disappear when the new stream starts?
No. Identifiers are per stream and are not affected by another stream opening. Producers do lose an IDU when they stop being compliant — ADEME publishes that as open data — but a new scheme starting is not one of those cases.
Can one eco-organisme cover both household and professional packaging?
Citeo and Citeo Pro, and Léko and Léko Pro, are related but the schemes and the memberships are separate. Being a member for household packaging does not enrol you for professional packaging; you join the professional scheme as a separate step, even with the same group.
We are a member through our representative. Does the representative handle the new membership?
That is the point of the mandate. The representative is subrogated into the obligations it accepts, so adding professional packaging to the mandate means it joins the eco-organisme in your name and files those declarations too.
How many IDUs might we end up with?
One for each stream you are caught by. A brand selling packaged electronics with batteries to both consumers and businesses could hold four or more. The streams page lists all nineteen and which ones your products trigger.
Sources
- ADEME — all about the unique identifier (IDU)
- ADEME — professional packaging (EPRO) scheme page
- ADEME — household or professional packaging: how to tell
- Légifrance — article L. 541-10-9-1 of the Environmental Code (full text)
Founder of EPR France Rep, the France-based EPR authorised representative for companies selling into France.
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