Informal guidance (no. 26-DD-01) issued by the French Competition Authority on February 4, 2026

The ReUse project aims to set up a nationally harmonized reuse system for food packaging sold in supermarkets, and involves a wide range of players (EPR eco-organizations, marketers, supermarket distributors, packaging manufacturers, transport and logistics companies, sorting and washing centers, etc.). Regional trials are currently underway in four French regions.

The ReUse project is structured around one or more service providers (hereafter ” SDS “), who are responsible for coordinating the activities involved in reuse (installation of collection points and management; packaging take-back; transport; sorting; washing; etc.). The use of SDSs would be mandatory in the ReUse project, but marketers would be able to select the services of their choice. The FDSs would be free to set their own rates based on the services they defined, and would communicate them to Citeo in the form of a catalog. The rates announced by the selected FDSs would then be the subject of a contract between Citeo and the FDSs.

Although the information provided by Citeo proved insufficient for an in-depth examination of the project, the General Rapporteur nevertheless provided an analysis grid to enlighten all stakeholders:

• on the role of eco-organizations: Citeo, as a dominant player on the market, must (i) refrain from any behavior designed to benefit its system to the detriment of other reuse systems, but must also (ii) refrain from any predatory behavior towards its competitors. The General Rapporteur recommends the implementation of preventive measures such as the functional separation of activities, or entrusting the management of the project to a third party. In addition, should Léko (a competing eco-organization in the same EPR sector) participate in the project, particular attention should be paid to the exchange of information between Citeo and Léko.

• on the structuring of FDS : the General Rapporteur provided two clarifications:
  • assessing the legality of a ReUse system based on one or more SDSs means taking into account (i) the fact that marketers are free to take on only some of the services offered by the SDS(s) for packaging included in the ReUse project, and (ii) the fact that several reuse systems may coexist.
  • objective, transparent and non-discriminatory selection criteria need to be established for future operators (acting directly or indirectly via a SDS).

• on the distribution of responsibilities and costs associated with the various stages of the system: the General Rapporteur stresses that exchanges of individual cost data should be avoided, since this is sensitive commercial information, and that measures to preserve normal competition, such as the introduction of a third party to examine the information, are conceivable. The distribution of the burden of these costs between the various players must also be designed in such a way as to respect competition rules.