Guidance

Organisation details file specification for extended producer responsibility

Updated 15 August 2024

This guidance explains how to submit your organisation details for extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging.

This is a legal obligation for organisations that are affected by EPR for packaging.

What ‘organisation details’ are

Organisation details include:

• address
• packaging activities
• the people who’ll be verifying and submitting your data

You may also need to report your organisation’s:

• brand activities - if you supply goods to the UK market in primary, secondary, or shipment packaging under their own brand
• partners - if you’re registered as a partnership in Companies House

You’ll need to record each of these in a separate file and submit them at the same time as your organisation details.

Full details of what you need to report are in this guidance.

How to report

1. Create a ‘Report packaging data’ account.

Create an account to report packaging data.

Do this as soon as possible - it can take up to 28 days for the regulators to approve the person creating the account and anyone they delegate.

2. Check what you need to report

Use this guidance to check what information you need to report.

You must report some information by 1 October 2023 and by 1 April 2024. Other pieces of information can be reported later. This guidance tells you which information is required for 1 October 2023 and 1 April 2024. You should make your best effort to meet these deadlines but no enforcement action will be taken about late submission if your data is submitted by 31 May 2024.

3. Download the templates you need

You’ll need to submit your data as a CSV file. There are templates to help you do this.

You can open and complete CSV files in any spreadsheet program.

Download the template to create the CSV file for your organisation.

If you need them, you can also download templates for:

• brand information
• partner information

You can create your own CSV files but they must exactly match the template.

Read more about how to prepare a CSV file. This guidance is aimed at government employees, but the sections from ‘Setting up your CSV file’ onwards contain useful general information.

4. Fill in the CSV templates

Use this guidance to find out which fields you must complete for 1 October 2023, 1 April 2024 and 1 October 2024.

Some organisations do not have to complete every field.

Do not change the structure of the CSV spreadsheet, even if a column is empty.

Make sure your spreadsheet software saves it as a CSV - you will not be able to upload other kinds of spreadsheet file, for example Excel’s .xls or .xlsx formats.

5. Upload your file or files

Visit your online account to upload your completed organisation details CSV.

If you need to submit separate CSVs for brand details or partner details, you must do this at the same time.

6. Fix any errors

Once you’ve uploaded your file, the service will run some checks.

These will make sure that the data in a CSV:

• matches what you’ve already told us when signing up for the service
• matches your Companies House records
• is the same across all the CSVs you have to upload

Your file will be rejected with error messages explaining any problems. If this happens, you’ll need to correct your file and upload it again.

7. Submit the files by the deadline

Once you’ve uploaded the files, you will then use your online account to submit them to the relevant environmental regulator. Only people with the right account permission can do this.

There are two deadlines each year for mandatory information: 1 October and 1 April. 

The information you submit needs to be true on those dates, even if you submit earlier than the deadline.

If you submit early and the information changes, you will have to resubmit your data.

8. Update the files if anything changes

You must keep any information you’ve submitted up to date.

You need to report any changes within 28 days of them happening. Do this by submitting new files to the regulator.

What you need to report

In the organisation details file, you need to report the organisation’s:

• general information – for example name, organisation type and packaging activities
• addresses
• people

General information

There are some categories that you only need to enter if the organisation is a:

• limited liability partnership
• limited liability company
• public limited company
• limited partnership

These are marked in the ‘Description’ column with ‘Limited orgs only’.

Where allowed values are listed follow them exactly, including capitalisation - for example, if importing is a secondary activity for your organisation, you must enter ‘Secondary’, not ‘secondary’.

You can report as a group, but you must provide general information for each organisation and subsidiary in the group.

Table 1: File structure for general information

Order (column letter)	Column header	Description	Allowed values	Required for 1 October 2023 and 1 April 2024?
1 (A)	organisation_id	The identification number assigned to an organisation when they create an account. This is 6 figures long. Do not include any spaces. This will be the same for all organisations and subsidiaries when reporting as a group.	Any	Yes
2 (B)	subsidiary_id	An identification number assigned to a subsidiary by its parent company. This field must be used by parent companies when reporting on behalf of subsidiaries. Otherwise, leave blank. Use the same unique ID for a subsidiary across all packaging and organisation data submissions.	Any	Yes
3 (C)	organisation_name	Organisation name Where applicable, this must exactly match your Companies House listing - for example if your listing says ‘limited’ do not use ‘Ltd’. If reporting as a group you will need to provide names for the main organisation and any subsidiaries. For subsidiaries, this will be different from the parent company.	Any	Yes
4 (D)	trading_name	Trading name. The trading name for your organisation, or for each organisation and subsidiary, when reporting as a group. Only include if different from organisation name.	Any	Yes
5 (E)	companies_house_ number	Companies House registration number for your organisation, or for each organisation or subsidiary when reporting as a group. Give the full 8 digits. If there are leading zeroes, include them and add ' at the start, for example '00123456. Limited orgs only.	Any	No
6 (F)	home_nation_code	Home nation code : the UK nation where an organisation is registered. England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales.	EN, NI, SC, WS	Yes
7 (G)	main_activity_sic	Main activity SIC (not needed if Organisation type is ‘Outside UK’ or ‘Others’): the SIC code for your main packaging activity by tonnage.	Any	No
8 (H)	organisation_type_code	Organisation type code, as listed in Companies House. Sole trader (SOL), Partnership (PAR), Regulator (REG), Public limited company (PLC), Limited Liability partnership (LLP), Limited Liability company (LTD), Limited partnership (LPA), Co-operative (COP), Community interest Company (CIC), Outside UK (OUT), Others (OTH)	SOL, PAR, REG, PLC, LLP, LTD, LPA, COP, CIC, OUT, OTH	Yes
9 (I)	organisation_sub_ type_code	Organisation sub-type: Licensor (LIC), Pub operating business (POB), Franchisor (FRA), Non-associated organisation (NAO), Holding company (HCY), Subsidiary (SUB), Licensee/Franchisee (LFR), Tenant (TEN), Others (OTH)	LIC, POB, FRA, NAO, HCY, SUB, LFR, TEN, OTH	No
10 (J)	packaging_activity_so	Supplied under your brand: does the organisation supply goods to the UK market in primary, secondary or shipment packaging under its own brand? Choose whether this is a primary or secondary activity for the organisation.	Primary, Secondary, No	Yes
11 (K)	packaging_activity_pf	Packed or filled as unbranded: does the organisation place goods into packaging that’s unbranded when it’s sold? Choose whether this is a primary or secondary activity for the organisation.	Primary, Secondary, No	Yes
12 (L)	packaging_activity_im	Imported: does the organisation import packaging that contains goods into the UK to sell? Choose whether this is a primary or secondary activity for the organisation.	Primary, Secondary, No	Yes
13 (M)	packaging_activity_se	Supplied as empty: does the organisation sell empty packaging to businesses that have an annual turnover of less than £2 million and supply less than 50 tonnes of packaging a year? Choose whether this is a primary or secondary activity for the organisation.	Primary, Secondary, No	Yes
14 (N)	packaging_activity_hl	Hired or loaned: does the organisation hire or loan out reusable packaging to UK organisations? Choose whether this is a primary or secondary activity for the organisation.	Primary, Secondary, No	Yes
15 (O)	packaging_activity_om	Supplied through an online marketplace that you own: does the organisation own an online marketplace that allows non-UK organisations to sell packaged products in the UK? Choose whether this is a primary or secondary activity for the organisation.	Primary, Secondary, No	Yes
16 (P)	packaging_activity_sl	Selling: does the organisation sell empty or filled packaging directly to end consumers? Choose whether this is a primary or secondary activity for the organisation.	Primary, Secondary, No	Yes
17 (Q)	registration_type_code	Registration type code: whether you are registering as a group (GR) or an individual (IN).	GR, IN	No
18 (R)	turnover	The organisation’s most recent annual turnover, based on the last audited accounts made available before 7 April in the obligation year. Give this in millions to 2 decimal places - for example, if your turnover is £24,500,000, enter 24.50	Use digits only, in whole numbers. Do not include ‘£’	No
19 (S)	total_tonnage	Total weight of all packaging activities in the calculation year combined, in tonnes. For example, for 2023 data this is packaging handled in 2022. Organisations must assess the packaging they handled in the calculation year to determine if they meet the small or large packaging thresholds.	Use digits only, in whole numbers.	No
20 (T)	produce_blank_ packaging_flag	Does the organisation put packaging on the market which has no brand names, identifying marks or trademarks?	Yes, No	Yes
21 (U)	liable_for_disposal_ costs_flag	Does the organisation place household packaging on the market?	Yes, No	No
22 (V)	meet_reporting_ requirements_flag	Reporting requirements: confirm that you are able to oversee the process for this organisation to report its packaging activities. This includes keeping account information up to date, making sure all data gets submitted and communicating about fees.	Yes, No	No

Addresses

In the same CSV file as the other organisation details, you need to include addresses for the organisation. :

• registered address on Companies House, if it’s a limited liability partnership (LLP), limited liability company (LTD) or limited partnership (LP)
• head office or principal place of business, unless it’s a limited liability partnership (LLP), limited liability company (LTD) or limited partnership (LP)
• audit address – this is a place the regulator can start an audit of submitted information

The first two addresses must be submitted by the deadline.

You must also include a service of notice address if this is different from the registered address. This is where we will send legal notices if the organisation is non-compliant.

Do not include a service of notice address if it is the same as the registered address.

If you’re reporting as a group, you should include the addresses for each organisation and subsidiary within the group.

For all addresses you need to include the:

• first line of the address
• postcode

For all addresses apart from the audit address, you also need to include a phone number.

For any of the addresses you can include the:

• city
• county
• country

Each piece of information must go in a separate column in the file - check the table below and look at the template to see how they must be arranged.

Table 2: File structure for addresses

Order (spreadsheet column)	Column header	Description
23 (W)	registered_addr_line1	Registered address line 1
24 (X)	registered_addr_line2	Registered address line 2
25 (Y)	registered_city	registered address city
26 (Z)	registered_addr_county	Registered address county
27 (AA)	registered_addr_postcode	Registered address postcode
28 (AB)	registered_addr_country	Registered address country
29 (AC)	registered_addr_phone_number	Registered address phone number
30 (AD)	audit_addr_line1	Audit address line 1
31 (AE)	audit_addr_line2	Audit address line 2
32 (AF)	audit_addr_city	Audit address city
33 (AG)	audit_addr_county	Audit address county
34 (AH)	audit_addr_postcode	Audit address postcode
35 (AI)	audit_addr_country	Audit address country
36 (AJ)	service_of_notice_addr_line1	Service of notice address line 1
37 (AK)	service_of_notice_addr_line2	Service of notice address line 2
38 (AL)	service_of_notice_addr_city	Service of notice address city
39 (AM)	service_of_notice_addr_county	Service of notice address county
40 (AN)	service_of_notice_addr_postcode	Service of notice address postcode
41 (AO)	service_of_notice_addr_country	Service of notice address country
42 (AP)	service_of_notice_addr_phone_number	Service of notice address phone number
43 (AQ)	principal_addr_line1	Principal place of business address line 1
44 (AR)	principal_addr_line2	Principal place of business address line 2
45 (AS)	principal_addr_city	Principal place of business address city
46 (AT)	principal_addr_county	Principal place of business address county
47 (AU)	principal_addr_postcode	Principal place of business address postcode
48 (AV)	principal_addr_country	Principal place of business address country
49 (AW)	principal_addr_phone_number	Principal place of business address phone number

Sole traders

If your organisation is a sole trader, you also need to enter the sole trader’s:

• first name
• last name
• phone number
• email address

You must supply this information for 1 October 2023 and 1 April 2024 if you are a sole trader - no enforcement action will be taken about late submission if your data is submitted by 31 May 2024.

Each piece of information must go in a separate column in the file - check the table below and look at the template to see how they must be arranged.

Include these empty columns even if they do not apply to you.

Table 3: File structure for sole traders

Order (spreadsheet column)	Column header	Description
50 (AX)	sole_trader_first_name	Sole trader first name
51 (AY)	sole_trader_last_name	Sole trader last name
52 (AZ)	sole_trader_phone_number	Sole trader phone number
53 (BA)	sole_trader_email	Sole trader email

If you are not a sole trader include the columns but leave them blank.

People

You need to include your organisation’s primary contact. This is the first person we should contact if we have questions about the process.

You must supply this information for 1 October and 1 April each year.

If you’re a group with subsidiaries, you only need to supply the primary contact for the head organisation.

You should also include your approved person - the person in charge of submitting information to the environmental regulator. The approved person will usually be the person who created a ‘Report packaging data’ account for your organisation.

If you’re a compliance scheme, this must be the approved person at the organisation you’re reporting on behalf of – you’ll also need to tell us whether the approved person or delegated person verified the data on behalf the producer

If you have one, you can also include your organisation’s:

• delegated person - this is another person who can submit information to the environmental regulator
• secondary contact - the next person we should contact if we have questions about the process

For each person include:

• first name
• last name
• phone number
• email address

You can also include their job title.

Each piece of information must go in a separate column in the file - check the table below and look at the template to see how they must be arranged.

Table 4: File structure for people

Order (spreadsheet column)	Column header	Description
54 (BB)	approved_person_first_name	Approved person first name
55 (BC)	approved_person_last_name	Approved person last name
56 (BD)	approved_person_phone_number	Approved person phone number
57 (BE)	approved_person_email	Approved person email
58 (BF)	approved_person_job_title	Approved person job title
59 (BG)	delegated_person_first_name	Delegated person first name
60 (BH)	delegated_person_last_name	Delegated person last name
61 (BI)	delegated_person_phone_number	Delegated person phone number
62 (BJ)	delegated_person_email	Delegated person email
63 (BK)	delegated_person_job_title	Delegated person job title
64 (BL)	primary_contact_person_first_name	Primary contact first name
65 (BM)	primary_contact_person_last_name	Primary contact last name
66 (BN)	primary_contact_person_phone_number	Primary contact phone number
67 (BO)	primary_contact_person_email	Primary contact email
68 (BP)	primary_contact_person_job_title	Primary contact job title
69 (BQ)	secondary_contact_person_first_name	Secondary contact first name
70 (BR)	secondary_contact_person_last_name	Secondary contact last name
71 (BS)	secondary_contact_person_phone_number	Secondary contact phone number
72 (BT)	secondary_contact_person_email	Secondary contact email
73 (BU)	secondary_contact_person_job_title	Secondary contact job title

Brand information

If you enter a packaging activity as ‘supplied under your brand’ in the organisation details file, you need to submit a separate CSV file with information about the brand.

Use the template or create a CSV file with the same headers.

Table 5: File structure for the brand information CSV file

Name	Column header	Description	Value
Organisation ID	organisation_id	The brand owner’s organisation ID. This is 6 figures long. Do not include any spaces.	Any
Subsidiary ID	subsidiary_id	An identification number assigned to a subsidiary by its parent company.	Any
Brand name	brand_name	The word or phrase used to identify the brand.	Any
Brand type code	brand_type_code	Whether the brand identifier is a brand name (BN), trademark (TM) or other (OT).	BN, TM, OT

Partner information

If you enter an organisation type of ‘partnership’ in the organisation details file, you will need to submit a separate CSV file about your organisation’s partners.

Use the template or create a CSV file with the same headers.

Table 6: File structure for the partner information CSV file

Name	Column header	Description	Value
Organisation ID	organisation_id	The ID of the organisation that the partner belongs to. This is 6 figures long. Do not include any spaces.	Any
Subsidiary ID	subsidiary_id	An identification number assigned to a subsidiary by its parent company.	Any
First name	partner_first_name		Any
Last name	partner_last_name		Any
Phone number	partner_phone_number		Any
Email	partner_email		Any

Compliance schemes

If you’re a compliance scheme, use the same files for all organisations. Do not create separate files for each organisation.