Closing the Implementation Gap: A Roadmap for Extended Producer Responsibility for Plastics in Sri Lanka through Lessons from the European Union

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.