Published 10/03/26
New EU Regulation
The EU has introduced a new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (P&PWR) that will enter into force from 12th August 2026, however some Articles of Directive 94/62/EC will remain active during an overlap period that extends (presently) until 31st December 2029.
What is of significant interest is that this new EU P&PWR Regulation introduces the requirement for an EU Declaration of Conformity to be drawn-up by the manufacturer of packaging or a packaging product.
The existing EU Packaging and Packing Waste Directive (P&PWD) 94/62/EC that entered into force on 30thJune 1996, has been amended seven times over the years, with the last amendment introduced in June 2018. This existing directive does not define any ‘manufacturer’ and hence does not place any specific conformity requirements on a manufacturer, which the new P&PWR introduces.
The two main aims of the P&PWD were as follows. Firstly, to reduce the environmental impact of packaging, i.e. predominantly to reduce the amount of packaging that was produced, and therefore used, across the EU but also outside of the EU. Secondly to promote the reuse of packaging through the recovery and recycling of packaging waste.
The new P&PWR combines these requirements, and increases them, but also introduces further requirements by adding in reuse & refill requirements, manufacturer conformity requirements and ensuring common-sense packaging, amongst others.
Waste Framework legislation
Separately, over the years, the EU has introduced a raft of legislation to prevent the amount of waste generated in certain specific sectors. The parent legislation is known as the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) 2008/98/EC. The main aim is to reduce the amount of waste the EU creates by promotion of reuse and recycling. The long-term aim is having a ‘recycling society’, and this ties in with circular economy initiatives.
Several pieces of specific legislation, under the parent WFD, introduce the concept of ‘Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)’. In essence this gets companies that produce waste to contribute to schemes aimed at reducing and/or collecting waste. This can range from having take-back facilities at the offices of the company to financially contributing to recycling schemes.
New P&PWR requirements
One big difference in comparison to other CE-marking legislation, e.g. product safety legislation, is that there is no mandatory requirement for packaging or packaged product to be CE-marked. It is recognised that this will conflict with the other CE-marking legislation where the manufacturer of a product may have put the CE-mark on the packaging.
There is a single conformity assessment procedure, internal production control, that the manufacturer of packaging or a packaging product must follow to demonstrate the sustainability, safety, labelling and information requirements of the P&PWR have been fulfilled.
There are no essential requirements yet defined in the P&PWR. The essential requirements of Directive 94/62/EC continue to apply.
Harmonised Standards are intended to be adopted, as they are in other CE-marking legislation, but as yet there are none harmonised. There are also no requirements to involve a Notified Body defined in the legislation. However, the P&PWR recognises that testing undertaken by a Conformity Assessment Body (another name for Notified Body) that is used to verify compliance of packaging or packaging products in accordance with harmonised standards (or parts thereof), will be presumed to demonstrate conformity with the specific requirements laid down in them.
Whilst the manufacturer of a product is less likely to be the manufacturer of packaging it is possible that they will be a manufacturer under the P&PWR, given the fact that the definition of manufacturer covers a packaged product.
It is important to note that micro-enterprises (i.e. small companies) are exempted from being the manufacturer of packaging or packaged product, with the responsibility being pushed back onto the larger supplier of the packaging or packaged product.
However, a manufacturer of a product will be a ‘producer’ under the legislation, given most manufacturers of product sell their product as a sales unit, i.e. combining the product with its packaging. Transport packaging (i.e. packing used to facilitate the handling and transport of one or more sales units) and grouped packing (where multiple sales units are packaged together) are also defined.
The packaging (or packaged product) manufacturer must ensure they meet the sustainability requirements (limiting harmful substances, ensuring a minimum amount of recycled content and meeting the requisite labelling requirement). They must also ensure the conformity assessment procedure is followed, and the technical documentation demonstrating compliance is retained together with a copy of the EU DoC.
If the manufacturer of a product is a micro-enterprise, and therefore not the manufacturer under the P&PWR, then they will most likely be consider a distributor. A distributor has an alternative but specific set of obligations to comply with.
Extended Producer Responsibilities
Whether the manufacturer of packaging or a packed product, a distributor, or even an importer, most companies are also likely be producers under the P&PWR.
The producer requirements relate to the management of packaging and waste packaging type requirements.
This includes registering as a producer in each member state and financially contributing to packaging waste recycling schemes implemented by the member state. It also requires recording keeping with respect to how much and what types of packing are used by your company.
What is the UK doing?
The UK introduced The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 (S.I. 1997/648) based upon the EU P&PWD 94/62/EC, and this was at a point in time when the UK was still an EU member state (i.e. before Brexit). The essential requirements of the EU Directive were incorporated into separate UK legislation, The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 1998 (S.I. 1998/1165). Due to additional amendments in the EU Directives an additional UK Statutory Instrument (S.I.) was introduced to address the changes. This legislation is The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/1640).
Subsequent amendments to the UK legislation were introduced, together with a major step-change in 2007, introduced by The Producer Responsibility Obligations (packaging Waste) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/871), which has since been revoked by the current The Producer Responsibility Obligations (packaging Waste) Regulations 2024 (S.I. 2024/1332).
As the title suggests, this is aimed at ‘producers’ and not manufacturers, but the legislation does recognise manufacturers.
This latest UK legislation, often termed “UK packaging Extended Producer Responsibility” or UK packaging ePR, incorporates lots of the requirements of the new EU P&PWR, but does not yet include labelling or a UKCA Declaration of Conformity. These regulations were drawn up independently of EU requirements, i.e. there is no cross-reference to the EU P&PWR.
However, it is worth noting that a Certificate of Compliance (CoC) may be required to be generated by the producer, which is a requirement that goes back to the 1997 Regulations. This CoC must be signed by an appropriate Approved Person, in respect of fulfilment of the Producers obligations. The person that can act as an Approved Person has been tightened in these 2024 Regulations, although the responsibility may be delegated.
There was also separate UK legislation with respect to the data reporting requirements (i.e. the former The Packaging Waste (Date Reporting) England Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/721). However, this legislation has been revoked and the requirements have been integrated into the UK packaging ePR Regulations.
Summary
The EU and UK Packaging and Waste Packaging legislation is complex and onerous and therefore requires specialist knowledge to interpret the requirements. Whilst the main original aim was focussed on all the economic operators in the supply chain as producers, the latest legislation places additional responsibilities on manufacturers. The latest legislation also increases the likelihood of medium-sized companies having a greater responsibility under the legislation, due to a lower bar being set, i.e. a lower tonnage of packaging being used. The amount of recycled content that must be used in packaging is increased and the different categories of packaging covered is also greater.
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