Why we (almost) can no longer deliver to the EU

At Speck Gear, we love nature. Our bikepacking bags and racks are made for exploring the world out there—sustainably, durably, and in harmony with the environment. That's why we pay meticulous attention to sustainability in all our materials and packaging: We use unbleached, recyclable paper mailers, cardboard boxes, paper tape, and sleeves made from FSC-certified recycled paper with the "Blue Angel" eco-label. We use as little packaging as possible and exclusively monomaterials. Even our zip-lock bags for small parts are made from 50% recycled plastic.
Sounds like we've done everything right, doesn't it? One might think so. But the reality of modern online retail, unfortunately, tells a different story. We are currently battling a bureaucratic monster that demands an enormous amount of our time and forces us to cease shipping to almost all EU countries.

Today, we want to give you an unvarnished look behind the scenes of European bureaucracy and talk about where well-intentioned environmental protection ends up in administrative madness and nonsense.

What kind of world have we landed in where a piece of paper generates more bureaucratic effort than the product itself?

The good approach: Why "EPR" would actually be right
Behind all of this is the so-called EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility). The basic idea is absolutely correct: whoever places packaging on the market should also be responsible for its recycling and disposal. No one should be allowed to flood the environment with waste for free.
In this context, draconian environmental regulations will come into force on August 12, 2026, with the new European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and stricter national accompanying laws. These obligate retailers to:

• appoint a separate, registered authorized representative for each individual EU country,
• conclude contracts with local recycling systems,
• and submit country-specific quantity reports.

This applies regardless of whether one package or 1000 packages are shipped, and whether the packaging material already consists of recyclable monomaterial made of paper or cardboard. As is often the case, the good idea dies a bureaucratic death in practice.

The reality: 27 countries, 27 messes, countless forms
Instead of a central European point of contact where small businesses can report their quantities and pay a fair fee, each EU country is doing its own thing. If we want to send a package to France, Italy, or Austria today, we have to:

1. Register separately in national registers in each individual country.
2. In many countries, we have to hire a local notary or EPR authorized representative for a significant fee to be liable for us on-site.
3. Submit annual advance reports accurate to the kilogram on separate portals and pay minimum fees.

For a small, owner-managed Swiss company, this effort—both financially and in terms of time—is simply not sustainable. The administrative control apparatus is disproportionate to the actual environmental benefit.

Sense or nonsense – who really wins here?
A critical examination of the system quickly reveals absurd logical inconsistencies. Nature does not win, because the system does not prevent waste from being generated. It merely manages it at an extremely high cost.
For businesses, there are essentially no administrative rewards for truly reducing consumption. Consumption is not curbed; instead, additional fees are added to processes, which ultimately the end consumers pay. Because we, as retailers, pay for the packaging material when we buy it and additionally have to pay the expensive license and system fees for recycling. These exploding administrative costs must inevitably be reflected in product prices. So, the customer indirectly pays for the system at the checkout, long before the cardboard ends up in the waste paper bin.
And who simultaneously controls the huge low-cost platforms from overseas, which daily fly millions of unchecked plastic mountains into Europe? Although the EU is increasingly holding marketplaces legally accountable, the sheer volume of Asian direct imports can hardly be comprehensively monitored by customs in everyday life. While the real global environmental offenders regularly slip through the net, the bureaucratic hammer mainly hits small, sustainable manufacturers.

Why isn't a simple ban enough?
The most logical step would surely be to simply ban packaging that is not circular or recyclable. Those who use monomaterials like pure paper should be rewarded—and not penalized with the same bureaucratic hurdles as someone who sends composite materials into the world. But instead of simple, clear product bans, they prefer to build a gigantic control and administration apparatus with thousands of jobs.

New EU customs regulation: The deathblow for small consignment exports
Parallel to the EPR madness, the EU has radically tightened customs rules for e-commerce. As of July 1, 2026, the previous customs exemption limit of 150 euros for imports from third countries will be completely abolished.
Specifically, this means:

• A flat customs duty of 3 euros per customs tariff number will now be due from the very first euro.
• From November 2026, an additional handling fee per package for customs clearance is expected to be added.

The problem here is the bureaucracy: The free trade agreement for Swiss origin goods effectively does not apply to this new e-commerce flat rate in fast digital mass shipping (like the IOSS procedure). Anyone who wants to take advantage of the customs benefit must choose extremely complex individual customs clearances. This literally explodes the shipping and processing costs for our EU customers for small consignments under 150 euros.
Large overseas players easily circumvent these hurdles by operating huge local logistics centers in the middle of the EU. Small, innovative companies from Switzerland, however, bear the burden alone.

What's next for Speck Gear
We have fought our way through the jungle of bureaucracy and are now fully registered and licensed for Germany (LUCID). Our German customers can therefore continue to order from us as usual.
For all other EU countries, we will unfortunately have to block the checkout process in our shop from August 2026. This is very painful for us–but as a small manufacturer, we have to put our resources into developing ingenious bikepacking equipment and cannot also deal with filling out hundreds of forms for 27 different authorities.

We ask ourselves: How is this still supposed to work for small businesses? We sincerely hope that the EU and the Swiss authorities will create a central, uncomplicated solution for small businesses in the future or allow an exemption. Until then, we will remain true to our principles: high-quality products, packaged as sustainably as possible—even if bureaucracy puts obstacles in our way.

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