Last Updated:	2004-10-01
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Introduction

OECD EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY (EPR) PROJECT

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an economic and policy forum for the world's 30 most developed countries. A list of the current membership can be found under useful links. The OECD began its work to address extended producer responsibility (EPR) in 1994, under its Pollution Prevention and Control Group.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies and programs can, theoretically, address the entire life-cycle of a product. However, programs typically focus on post-consumer stage management of products and product packaging, largely due to local government concerns regarding waste management and disposal. Although it has generally been considered and pursued independently, EPR policy is a subset of the still developing, more general category of Integrated Product Policy (IPP). The OECD has also begun to consider the concept of IPP as an overarching policy approach, but this work is still at a fairly early stage.

The OECD's work on EPR has proceeded in three phases. Phase 1 involved extensive research on legal and administrative aspects of the EPR regimes and activities of Member countries and culminated in the EPR Phase 1 Interim Report, completed in 1995. Phase 2 included the preparation of various reports, including two in-depth case studies on packaging, of the Dutch Packaging Covenant and the German Packaging Ordinance, and a Framework Report. Phase 3 focused on analysis of the work of Phases 1 and 2, including through four multi-stakeholder workshops, and culminated in the preparation of an EPR guidance manual: Extended Producer Responsibility: A Guidance Manual for Governments.