How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs
How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs
欧洲是如何扼杀创客与微型创业者的
Lectronz is a marketplace for open-source hardware makers and DIY electronics. Most of our sellers are not factories or well-funded start-ups. They are engineers, independent designers, and hardware enthusiasts working from spare rooms, garages, and tiny workshops. Some earn a living from their products. Some sell only a handful of boards each year. Others build ten units simply because they created something useful and want to share it with the community. Occasionally, one of those experiments grows into a real business. Every Arduino begins somewhere. Lectronz 是一个面向开源硬件创客和 DIY 电子爱好者的交易平台。我们的大多数卖家并非工厂或资金雄厚的初创公司，而是那些在闲置房间、车库和小型工作室里工作的工程师、独立设计师和硬件发烧友。有些人靠产品谋生，有些人每年只卖出几块电路板，还有些人仅仅因为创造了有用的东西并想与社区分享，才制作了十来个成品。偶尔，这些实验中的某一个会成长为真正的企业。每一个 Arduino 的成功都始于微末。
But the European Union’s new packaging rules now threaten to kill the world of makers and micro-entrepreneurs, putting jobs, livelihoods and an entire ecosystem of innovation at risk. And this threat is not just limited to makers and engineers. It affects artists, craftspeople and other micro-entrepreneurs selling their work across the EU. 然而，欧盟新的包装法规现在正威胁着要扼杀创客和微型创业者的生存空间，使就业、生计以及整个创新生态系统面临风险。这种威胁不仅限于创客和工程师，它还波及到在欧盟境内销售作品的艺术家、手工艺人以及其他微型创业者。
A good idea, a terrible implementation
好的初衷，糟糕的执行
The EU has required producers to take responsibility for packaging waste for many years through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes. The new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which generally applies from 12 August 2026, aims to harmonise packaging rules across the European Union and reduce waste. The main idea of EPR is sensible: businesses that place packaging on the market should help finance its collection and recycling. For makers, this means taking responsibility for the boxes, envelopes, plastic bags and other packaging used to deliver their products. This is an idea we can all get behind. 多年来，欧盟一直通过“生产者责任延伸”（EPR）计划要求生产者对包装废弃物负责。将于 2026 年 8 月 12 日起全面实施的《包装与包装废弃物法规》（PPWR），旨在统一欧盟各国的包装规则并减少浪费。EPR 的核心理念是合理的：将包装投放市场的企业应分担其回收和再利用的费用。对于创客而言，这意味着要为寄送产品所使用的纸箱、信封、塑料袋和其他包装承担责任。这是一个我们都能支持的理念。
Unfortunately, instead of creating a single European system, the PPWR preserves a fragmented national model. A business selling directly to customers across the EU must register and fulfil its obligations separately in every Member State where its packaging becomes waste. For large companies, this is part of the cost of doing business; for micro-businesses selling only a handful of products into each country, the cost and administrative burden can be wildly disproportionate to the amount of packaging involved. 遗憾的是，PPWR 并未建立统一的欧洲体系，而是保留了碎片化的国家模式。一家直接向欧盟客户销售产品的企业，必须在每一个产生包装废弃物的成员国分别进行注册并履行义务。对于大公司来说，这是经营成本的一部分；但对于每个国家只卖出少量产品的微型企业而言，其成本和行政负担与所涉及的包装量相比，简直是极度不成比例的。
Imagine an engineer in Greece who designs a €25 open-source sensor board… During the first year, he sells five to Germany, two to France, two to Austria and one to Belgium. Each ships in a small antistatic bag and a padded envelope. The amount of packaging generated for each sale is probably around 50 grams. He has just become a packaging waste producer in four countries. 想象一下，一位希腊工程师设计了一款售价 25 欧元的开源传感器电路板……第一年，他向德国卖出 5 个，向法国卖出 2 个，向奥地利卖出 2 个，向比利时卖出 1 个。每个产品都用一个小防静电袋和一个缓冲信封包装。每次销售产生的包装重量大约只有 50 克。但他现在却成了四个国家的“包装废弃物生产者”。
Based on indicative prices currently quoted by national schemes and compliance providers, the annual cost for France alone can look like this: Registering for a packaging scheme, totalling €110 in fees per year. Using the services of an Authorised representative, adding €190 to €300 in costs per year. Spending time registering, documenting, and reporting waste created. 根据目前各国计划和合规服务商提供的参考价格，仅在法国一年的成本就可能如下：注册包装计划，每年总计 110 欧元的费用；使用授权代表服务，每年增加 190 至 300 欧元的成本；此外还要花费时间进行注册、记录和报告废弃物产生情况。
These indicative costs continue to add up for each country: Belgium: €50 to €100 administrative fees per year, plus the services of an authorised representative (approx. €250 to €450). Germany: registration is free, but packaging-scheme participation starts at approximately €10 per year, plus an authorised representative costing around €190 per year. Austria: €250 administrative fees per year, plus the services of an authorised representative (approx. €100). 这些参考成本在每个国家不断累加：比利时：每年 50 至 100 欧元的行政费用，加上授权代表服务（约 250 至 450 欧元）。德国：注册免费，但参与包装计划每年至少约 10 欧元，加上授权代表费用约 190 欧元。奥地利：每年 250 欧元的行政费用，加上授权代表服务（约 100 欧元）。
In short, the barrier to entry for these four countries totals €1150 per year in an optimistic scenario. The weight-based environmental contribution associated with half a kilogram of packaging should be measured in cents. The bureaucracy required to account for it is measured in thousands of euros. Now imagine you want to sell to all 27 Member States! To make it worthwhile, our Greek engineer needs to sell not 10 boards, not 100, but literally thousands of boards every year from the very start. It simply isn’t worth it anymore. 简而言之，在乐观情况下，进入这四个国家的门槛每年总计 1150 欧元。半公斤包装所对应的基于重量的环境贡献费本应以“分”来计算，但为了核算这些费用所需的官僚成本却高达数千欧元。现在想象一下，如果你想卖到全部 27 个成员国！为了让生意划算，我们的希腊工程师从一开始就不能只卖 10 块或 100 块电路板，而是必须每年卖出数千块。这根本不值得了。
Killing innovation softly
温水煮青蛙式的扼杀创新
Often, innovation doesn’t come from large established corporations, but from small businesses that start from scratch with new ideas and little money. Before becoming successful and selling millions of products, many companies started selling 10, then 100, then 1000. Most businesses never make it there. But there has to be space where ideas can be tested. This is one of the reasons Lectronz exists. 创新往往不是来自大型成熟企业，而是来自那些白手起家、怀揣新点子但资金匮乏的小企业。在取得成功并销售数百万件产品之前，许多公司都是从卖出 10 个、100 个、1000 个开始的。虽然大多数企业无法走到那一步，但必须有一个能够测试想法的空间。这也是 Lectronz 存在的理由之一。
In the past year, while some sellers on Lectronz sold hundreds of products, half of our registered sellers got fewer than 10 orders. This is not a bug, but the nature of a marketplace like Lectronz where makers are free to experiment with product ideas. Some ideas don’t work. Some creators on Lectronz only build 10 units and share them with the community without making a profit. But even products that “fail” have a value. When hardware creators share them with the community, they help others grow as well. One piece of hardware may unlock the creation of another, leading to new product ideas and innovation. 在过去的一年里，虽然 Lectronz 上的一些卖家卖出了数百件产品，但我们一半的注册卖家订单量不足 10 个。这不是系统漏洞，而是像 Lectronz 这样的市场的本质——创客们可以自由地尝试产品创意。有些想法行不通，有些创作者在 Lectronz 上只制作了 10 个成品并与社区分享，甚至没有盈利。但即使是“失败”的产品也有价值。当硬件创作者与社区分享它们时，他们也在帮助他人成长。一件硬件可能会激发另一件硬件的诞生，从而带来新的产品创意和创新。
The EPR regulations threaten the existence of this innovative space in the EU. EU policymakers keep sounding the alarm about Europe’s lack of innovation, but seem hell-bent on making it as hard as possible for innovation to emerge at all, with regulations that create a disproportionate barrier to entry for micro-enterprises and SMEs. It’s an environment where only big players like Amazon, Temu, or eBay can exist. EPR 法规威胁到了欧盟这一创新空间的存在。欧盟决策者不断对欧洲缺乏创新发出警告，但似乎又执意通过法规为微型企业和中小企业设置不成比例的准入门槛，从而尽可能地阻碍创新的萌芽。在这种环境下，只有像亚马逊、Temu 或 eBay 这样的大玩家才能生存。
Lectronz is also a micro-enterprise
Lectronz 也是一家微型企业
Lectronz collects a 5% fee on every transaction it processes. We waive this fee on the first five sales to encourage sellers to test our platform. After years of work, and with the recent surge of new sellers joining our platform in 2026, Lectronz now generates roughly the equivalent of one modest salary. I did not build it to become the next Amazon. I built it because independent hardware creators deserve a marketplace designed for them. If these rules force many of our sellers to withdraw from the European market, they could also make Lectronz itself unviable. After everything we have built together, that would be personally heartbreaking. Lectronz 对处理的每笔交易收取 5% 的费用。为了鼓励卖家测试我们的平台，我们免除了前五笔销售的费用。经过多年的努力，随着 2026 年新卖家加入平台的激增，Lectronz 目前的收入大约相当于一份普通的薪水。我建立它并不是为了成为下一个亚马逊，而是因为独立的硬件创作者理应拥有一个专为他们设计的市场。如果这些规则迫使我们许多卖家退出欧洲市场，它们也可能导致 Lectronz 本身无法生存。在我们共同建立了一切之后，这对我个人来说将是令人心碎的。