The paper asked what the new EU rules did to us

The paper came back, about the paperwork

Nu Österåker wrote about us on 3 October. This time it is not about the hives. It is about the admin: what the new EU packaging rules mean for a small beekeeper in Svinninge.

What actually happened

PPWR, the EU's new packaging regulation, has applied since 12 August 2026. Sell a single jar of honey to a consumer in another EU country and we count as a producer in that country. That means registering there, appointing an authorised representative in the country — now compulsory — and a fixed annual fee of up to about a thousand euro. Germany is the highest; the other countries are lower.

There is no lower limit. One jar sold is enough, and there is no exemption for a small business.

So the sum was easy. We closed the checkout to everything outside Sweden and wrote to the customers we had abroad that it is not possible right now. Many other small businesses have done the same thing.

We have nothing against the goal. Less packaging waste is a reasonable thing to want. What is missing is a floor. A producer who ships twelve jars a year pays the same entry as one who ships a lorry, and the answer the small one gives is to stay home.

What happens at the end of October

The EU votes on this at the end of October. If the rules are postponed, or an exemption for small businesses arrives, we open again — and so will a lot of others.

If neither happens it gets heavy for small producers across Europe. Some will close. The rest will be stuck selling only inside their own country, which for most of them is not a market at all.

Read the article

Nya EU-regler: Hinder för biodlaren i Svinninge — Nu Österåker, text and photo Joel Andreasson. The article is behind the paper's paywall.

Thank you to Joel Andreasson and Nu Österåker.