PPWR

• 12 August 2026 is the official effective date of the PPWR
• From this date onwards, companies will be required to apply the new PPWR rules
• Following the publication of the law in January 2025, the EU granted the business community a transition period of 18 months. This period ends on this very day ➔ Art. 71(2) PPWR

• Not all requirements for flexible retail packaging that come into force in 2030 must be met as early as 2026. Specifically, an EU certificate of conformity must confirm the following as of 12 August 2026:
• Compliance with the PFAS limit (applies only to food packaging) ➔ Art. 5(5) PPWR
• Compliance with the heavy metal limit ➔ Art. 5(4) PPWR
• The information required for this must be provided by suppliers to producers (see below)➔ Art. 16(1) PPWR

• “Packaging” means any product, regardless of the material from which it is made, intended to contain, protect, handle, deliver or present goods. ➔ Art. 3(1)(1) PPWR
• The definition refers to packaging in its final form. Integrated or separate components (such as closures or labels) are also considered to be part of the packaging ➔ Art. 3(1)(43) and (44) PPWR
• “Unfilled precursors such as roll goods are not ‘packaging’ within the meaning of Art. 3(1)(1) PPWR, but rather ‘packaging material’. Suppliers of packaging material have a duty to provide information to the producer.”➔ pursuant to Art. 16(1) PPWR

• Through the first placing of packaging on the EU market ➔ Art. 3(1)(10) PPWR
• For flexible retail packaging, this refers to the first physical or legal transfer of the finished, filled packaging within the supply chain ➔ Art. 3(1)(9) PPWR
• It is irrelevant whether this takes place for a fee or free of charge.
• For stock items, the “release for distribution” must be verifiable; as proof, purchase contracts (not framework agreements), invoices, delivery notes and similar documents with a corresponding time stamp are usually accepted ➔ Art. 3(1)(9) PPWR

Supplier

• Companies that supply packaging material to ‘producers’.
• Roll goods are legally classified not as ‘packaging’, but as packaging material. Consequently, a film manufacturer is considered a supplier ➔ Art. 3 No. 16 PPWR
• Must provide the producer with all necessary information and documentation (e.g. material composition, PFAS compliance, etc.), ➔ Art. 16(1) PPWR

Producer

• Companies that fill packaging produce a “packaged product”. Under the logic of the PPWR, companies become the producer of the sales packaging through the act of filling ➔ Art. 3(1)(13) PPWR
• In the case of contract manufacturing under a third party’s name / brand, the client (brand owner) is deemed the producer. The contract filler does not assume the producer’s obligations ➔ Art. 3(1)(13)(a) PPWR
• They bear the primary responsibility for the flexible packaging of their own brands in terms of compliance with all requirements and must carry out the conformity assessment, prepare the technical documentation and sign the EU Declaration of Conformity ➔ Art. 15 PPWR

Brand owner (usually manufacturer)

• Companies that develop or have manufactured packaging or a packaged product under their own name or their own brand (principle of brand sovereignty) ➔ Art. 3(1)(13)(a) PPWR
• If products are filled by a contract packer, but the brand name of the brand owner appears on the packaging, the brand owner is legally considered to be the manufacturer ➔ Art. 15 PPWR
• Is primarily responsible for ensuring compliance with all requirements for the flexible packaging of their brands, must carry out the conformity assessment, prepare the technical documentation and sign the EU Declaration of Conformity ➔ Art. 15 PPWR

• As of 12 August 2026, the manufacturer must be clearly identifiable directly on the packaging
• This means that the manufacturer’s name, the manufacturer’s contact address (within the EU) and a unique identifier for traceability (e.g. batch number) must be visible on the packaging
• The widespread “Manufactured for...” references are no longer sufficient without the above-mentioned information.
• If this is not possible due to the size or type of packaging (e.g. in the case of very small formats), the information may be provided in an accompanying document or via a QR code ➔ Art. 15(5) and (6)
• The introduction of harmonised sorting pictograms for waste separation will take place gradually
• The obligation to affix them applies from 12 August 2028
• This is subject to the timely implementation of the relevant secondary legislation
• For packaging manufactured prior to this date, a transitional period of 36 months applies with regard to the sorting pictograms ➔ Art. 12 PPWR

• By 1 January 2028 The assessment criteria for recyclability (performance grades) will be laid down by delegated acts
• By 1 January 2030 In addition, an implementing act on the methodology for ‘recycled at scale’
• From 2030: Packaging must meet at least Performance Grade C (≥ 70% recyclability) to be marketable
• From 2035: Packaging must be ≥ 55% recycled across the EU (“recycled at scale”) to be considered recyclable
• From 2038: Packaging must meet at least Performance Grade B (≥ 80% recyclability) to be marketable

• The calculation must be carried out by the ‘manufacturer’ (usually the filler)
• Averaging across the packaging manufacturer is conceivable, but has not yet been regulated
• The obligation applies to any plastic content ≥ 5% of the packaging weight ➔ Art. 7(1) in conjunction with Annex II, Table 2 of the PPWR
• Appliesper packaging type and format (Annex II, Table 1), calculated as an average per production site and year
• Averaging is permitted per ‘plant’, not per ‘company’ (group)
• Exceptions are possible if recycled material poses a risk to health or contravenes Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004
• Further exceptions are possible via delegated acts by the Commission (Art. 7(12) and (13))
• The recycled content requirement cannot be met with post-industrial recycled materials (PIR)
• Only post-consumer recycled materials are permitted (Art. 3(1)(48))
• The specific calculation method (including the treatment of individual packaging components) will be laid down by the implementing act by 31 December 2026 ➔ Art. 7(8) PPWR
• Closures do not need to contain recycled material separately if this is offset in other components
• The use of bio-based plastics is currently not envisaged, but is to be reviewed by the European Commission by 12 February 2028 ➔ Art. 8(2)(c) PPWR

• Chemical recycling is recognised as a recycling method
• Presumed preferred mass balance method:“fuel-use exempt”
• This means that only the proportion that can be reused for packaging is counted towards the recyclate output, but not the portion required for process energy
• Objective: to enable the attribution of high recyclate content