Triman is a French marking, defined by Article L. 541-9-3 of the Environmental Code, that tells the consumer the product or its packaging is subject to a sorting rule under an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme. It's a small pictogram of a stylised figure pointing at three arrows. It must appear with the Info-Tri sorting information that explains what to do with each component.

Triman isn't optional branding. It's a regulatory marking and the rules around its display (positioning, size, contrast, language) are prescribed.

The 2022 expansion brought almost every consumer-facing physical product sold in France into scope: packaging, household chemicals, cosmetics, electrical and electronic equipment, textiles, furniture, tyres, batteries, print media and toys. If your product is sold to a French consumer, the working assumption should be that Triman applies, and exemptions need to be proven, not assumed.

Business-to-business products are largely out of scope, but the line isn't always clean. A product sold through a wholesaler to a salon, for instance, may still be treated as consumer-facing depending on labelling.

The default is that Triman and Info-Tri appear directly on the packaging (and, for some product categories, on the product itself). Where physical space genuinely doesn't allow it, a limited dematerialised option exists: a QR code or other digital link that leads to the marking and sorting information. This digital fallback is tightly defined and not a general escape valve.

For multi-component packaging (a cosmetics secondary carton with a primary bottle and a pump, for example), the Info-Tri must address each component separately, telling the consumer how to sort each one.

The Triman mark and the Info-Tri sorting information apply per waste stream, so a single unit of sale can carry several sorting instructions covering different components. This is the table to work from when specifying artwork.

The practical consequence: a cosmetic pump bottle in a carton isn't one Triman decision, it's three or four. Bottle, pump, cap and carton can each go to a different stream, and the Info-Tri block has to say so.

• Legibility over fixed millimetres. The controlling requirement is that the mark and the sorting instruction are visible, legible and indelible under normal conditions of use. Design to legibility, then check against the pack, rather than assuming one minimum size covers the range.
• Keep the mark and the instruction together. Info-Tri is the sorting instruction that accompanies the Triman mark. A Triman logo alone, with no instruction on which elements go where, doesn't satisfy the requirement.
• Don't recolour or restyle. The mark is a defined graphic. Monochrome adaptation to suit the pack is acceptable, redrawing it to match brand styling isn't.
• Small pack route. Where surface area genuinely doesn't allow it, the information can move to a digital destination. That destination has to be accessible without an app and has to be maintained, which makes it a lasting content obligation rather than a one-off artwork fix.
• Don't place it on shrink film or a removable sleeve that's discarded before the consumer makes the sorting decision.
• France only. The mark is a French national requirement. Applying it to pan-European artwork is a common shortcut that misleads consumers in other markets and creates its own problems, so treat France as a distinct artwork variant.

The artwork is published by the French authorities and by the relevant Extended Producer Responsibility scheme for your product category, most commonly Citeo for household packaging and paper. The files are free and are provided as vector artwork alongside the Info-Tri sorting instruction templates. Don't source the mark from an image search: the versions circulating online are frequently the pre-2022 graphic or a redrawn approximation.

Two rules govern its use. The mark must be reproduced as published, with monochrome adaptation allowed but restyling, recolouring to brand palette and redrawing not permitted. And it must be paired with the Info-Tri instruction for the specific packaging components in that pack. The instruction is category-specific and pack-specific, so the same Triman graphic sits alongside a different sorting instruction on a carton, a pump bottle and a refill pouch of the same product.

Yes. The obligation attaches to placing the product on the French market, not to the sales channel. Distance sellers shipping into France from another Member State or from outside the EU are producers for Extended Producer Responsibility purposes and carry the same marking, registration and reporting duties, including registration with the relevant EPR scheme and a unique identification number. Marketplaces have been progressively made responsible for sellers who don't comply, which is why French marketplaces now request EPR identifiers before listing. Selling a handful of units direct to French consumers is enough to trigger the duty, and it's the most common gap in otherwise compliant portfolios. See chemical compliance software for how packaging marks and EPR data are held per market.

For a cosmetics or chemicals business with hundreds or thousands of SKUs sold into France, Triman isn't a one-off artwork project. It's an ongoing data problem: every new SKU, every artwork revision, every packaging substitution needs the correct Triman and Info-Tri pairing. Getting it wrong exposes the business to fines of up to 1,500 EUR per non-compliant unit placed on the market.

Worldover treats Triman as structured data on each SKU and packaging component. When artwork is updated, the system checks the marking is present and compliant. When a packaging spec changes, the affected Info-Tri instructions update automatically. Customer-specific declarations to French retailers fall out of the same data set.

France's marking rules sit under Article L. 541-9-3 of the Environmental Code and the 2022 Info-Tri decree, and they're now on a collision course with the EU harmonised sorting labels introduced by the PPWR (Regulation (EU) 2025/40). Planning artwork on the assumption that Triman is permanent, or that it disappears next year, both cost money. This is the transition as it currently stands.

Exact sizing thresholds and the small-pack dispensation are set by decree and have been amended more than once, so confirm the current figures against Legifrance before signing off artwork. The structural point doesn't change: marks are an output of packaging data, not a design decision. See the PPWR deadline calendar for the EU side, and chemical compliance software or cosmetic ERP software for holding that data per SKU and market.

The Triman logo and Info-Tri sorting instructions are mandatory on packaging placed on the French market, and the rules differ by product category, material and component. For a brand with hundreds of SKUs into France, that turns every artwork revision into a compliance check, and fines of up to 1,500 EUR per non-compliant unit make spreadsheet tracking an expensive habit.

Cosmetic regulatory software and chemical compliance software treat Triman as structured data on each SKU and packaging component. When packaging changes, the Info-Tri output regenerates automatically; when the rules change, affected artwork is flagged for review before it ships.

• Triman and Info-Tri variants tracked per SKU, market and component
• Artwork compliance checks against current French rules
• EPR identifier (UIN) management across French eco-organisations
• Customer-facing declarations for French retailers
• Audit trail of artwork versions and on-pack marks

Triman applies to products and packaging covered by an extended producer responsibility scheme and sold to households in France. What varies by category is whether the marking sits on the packaging, on the product itself, or on both.

The specification is precise enough that artwork is routinely rejected on it. The rules that matter in practice:

• Triman and Info-Tri form a single graphic block. They can't be separated across a pack, and Triman can't be used alone on household packaging.
• Minimum height for the Triman symbol is 6 mm, or a minimum width of 10 mm for the combined signage block, whichever the layout allows. Below that, the marking is treated as absent.
• Where the pack face is under 10 cm², a simplified or dematerialised presentation is permitted, with the sorting instruction provided digitally or on an outer pack.
• The block must be legible, indelible and visible without opening the pack, in a contrasting colour. Monochrome is permitted; the symbol may be reproduced in any single colour with sufficient contrast.
• Info-Tri lists each separable component and where it goes: for a bottle with a pump and a carton, that's three entries, not one.
• Text is in French. Additional languages are permitted alongside but don't replace it.

The common failure isn't the symbol; it's the component breakdown. Artwork carries a generic Info-Tri while the pack has three separable materials, which is a non-compliant marking even though the logo is present and correctly sized.

For a portfolio of any size, the constraint isn't the rule, it's the artwork. Re-plating everything at once is expensive and unnecessary.

1. Build the pack component register first. Every SKU broken into its separable components with material codes. Info-Tri is derived from this, so it has to exist before any artwork changes.
2. Decide market-specific versus multi-market artwork. A France-only version keeps other markets clean but doubles the artwork estate. A shared version carries French marking everywhere, which is permitted and usually cheaper.
3. Sequence by print cycle, not by regulation date. Fold the marking into the next scheduled artwork change per SKU, prioritising high-volume French lines.
4. Version the artwork against the formula record. Artwork versions have to be traceable to the pack specification they were derived from, or the next component change silently invalidates the Info-Tri.
5. Keep the EPR declaration in step. The same component register feeds the Citeo tonnage declaration, so getting it right once serves both duties.

Does Triman apply to B2B products? No. The duty covers products and packaging placed on the French market for households. Purely professional packaging is outside it, but a product sold through both channels in the same pack needs the marking, and mixed-channel distribution is the usual reason a supposedly exempt SKU turns out not to be.

What about imported goods and online sales? The obligation attaches to whoever places the product on the French market, which includes importers and distance sellers shipping directly to French consumers. Marketplaces selling into France are explicitly in scope, so a brand with no French entity still carries the duty.

What are the penalties in practice? The formal exposure is an administrative fine of up to €3,000 for a natural person and €15,000 for a company, applicable per infringement. Enforcement by the DGCCRF has in practice been a warning and a corrective deadline for first offences. The real cost is commercial: French retailers audit pack compliance before listing, and non-compliant artwork gets delisted or held at the distribution centre, which is materially more expensive than the fine.