Abstract:
Extended Producer Responsibility
(EPR) has emerged as an important regulatory
approach for shifting responsibility for products
and their post-consumer impacts towards
producers. However, the rapid expansion of crossborder direct-to-consumer (D2C) e-commerce
creates regulatory challenges for EPR systems that
have traditionally relied on domestic
manufacturers, importers and distributors as
identifiable responsible actors. The article discusses
whether Sri Lanka's EPR framework is sufficient to
rule out the gaps in plastic products and packaging
supplied directly to Sri Lankan consumers by
foreign producers through distant online selling
platforms. Particular attention is given to section
23QQ of the National Environmental Act,
introduced by the National Environmental
(Amendment) Act, No 15 of 2026, and to the
potential regulatory difficulties arising where a
foreign producer has no importer, distributor or
authorised representative in Sri Lanka. The article
adopts a comparative legal research methodology,
examining relevant Sri Lankan legislation and
policy against selected European Union (EU)
approaches to producer responsibility, distance
selling, packaging and online commerce. There is a
regulatory gap concerning the attribution,
registration, monitoring and enforcement of EPR
obligations in cross-border D2C transactions. EU
law provides a useful comparative reference
because its regulatory framework expressly
addresses distance selling and, under the Packaging
and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU) 2025/40,
extends regulatory attention to producers supplying
packaging and packaged products through distance
contracts and to online platforms facilitating such
transactions. The article proposes a Sri Lankan
framework based on recognition of foreign
distance-selling producers, authorised local
representation, digital EPR registration, online
marketplace due diligence, traceability and
coordination between environmental authorities
and Customs. Consumer responsibility should
operate as a complementary component of EPR
rather than as a substitute for producer
responsibility. The article argues that a legally
defined and digitally traceable framework could
strengthen accountability for plastics entering Sri
Lanka through cross-border e-commerce and
contribute to more effective post-consumer plastic
management and circular-economy objectives.
