Over-extension of Extended Producer Responsibility? May 17, 2021 CBN Audio: SOUTH Africa recently published a set of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations, which aim to extend companies’ financial or physical responsibility for certain identified products to the post-consumer stage of the products. Contrary to international best practice, however, Government has overextended the reach of this responsibility, which raises a host of challenges. The EPR Regulations and associated sector schemes were published and came into force on 5 November 2020. Before this, existing laws had contained some elements of EPR and sector collection schemes have largely been run by voluntary industry organisations. This is the first comprehensive set of regulations seeking to regulate EPR measures in South Africa. The new EPR regime applies to producers of paper, packaging and some single-use products; electrical and electronic equipment; and lighting equipment, with designated ‘identified products’ within each sector.