Triman logo in France: who needs it, and what non-compliance costs

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 is 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 is not optional branding. It is 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 is not 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 does not 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 is not one Triman decision, it is 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, does not satisfy the requirement.
• Do not recolour or restyle. The mark is a defined graphic. Monochrome adaptation to suit the pack is acceptable, redrawing it to match brand styling is not.
• Small pack route. Where surface area genuinely does not 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.
• Do not place it on shrink film or a removable sleeve that is 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. Do not 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 do not 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 is 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 is not a one-off artwork project. It is 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 are 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 does not 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