The EU’s new Regulation on packaging and packaging waste will take effect on 12 August 2026. Companies must prepare for a host of changes, including new packaging design and sustainability requirements and extended obligations for producers, manufacturers and distributors. Online platforms are also affected.
The new EU Packaging Regulation
Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste (the “Packaging Regulation” or “PPWR”) was published in the Official Journal in December 2024. Most of its provisions will become legally binding – replacing the current Packaging Directive (94/62/EC) – on 12 August 2026. As an EU regulation, the Packaging Regulation applies directly throughout the European Union without the need for transposition into national law.
Companies must therefore be ready for new and far-reaching changes in respect of packaging, packaging materials and packaging waste, including new EU stipulations on packaging design, sustainability and labelling, by 12 August 2026. Producers will have to register in the register of producers and be prepared for extended responsibility. Online platforms are also affected.
The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has published a draft bill for a new Packaging Law Implementation Act (Verpackungs-Durchführungsgesetz, “VerpackDG”) to replace Germany’s current Packaging Act (Verpackungsgesetz) and introduce the necessary national provisions to implement the PPWR. This will bring German law into line with the Packaging Regulation, while retaining and further developing Germany’s existing structures for the disposal and recycling of packaging.
New packaging design requirements – sustainability and minimisation
The new packaging design requirements from 12 August 2026 include the following provisions, among others:
Article 5 establishes restrictions on certain substances present in packaging, e.g. a limit of 100 mg/kg for the sum total of all concentrations of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium. There are also limits on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) in food-contact packaging. In a separate move, the EU has been planning for some time to introduce limit values for PFAS, with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) currently working on a restriction proposal and a ban expected in 2030.
- Article 6 states that all packaging placed on the market must be recyclable. Recyclable means made of materials suited to recycling processes and used such that they can be reused and reprocessed without difficulty.
- Article 7 introduces a requirement that from 1 January 2030 (or three years after the relevant Commission implementing act enters into force), any plastic part of packaging placed on the market shall contain a stipulated minimum percentage of recycled content recovered from post-consumer plastic waste. The percentage of recycled material depends on the type of packaging and lies between 10 % and 35 %.
- Article 9 stipulates that tea and coffee bags and similar permeable bags, labels hung directly on or attached to a product and sticky labels affixed to fruit and vegetables also constitute packaging and must meet the standards for industrial composting and bio-waste as well as the home-composting standards referred to Article 9(6).
- Article 10 requires that packaging be minimised. The Commission is to request the European standardisation organisations to specify maximum adequate limits for weight, volume, wall thickness and empty space for the most common packaging types and formats. Excessive packaging materials, weight and volume are to be avoided in order to reduce waste generation.
- From 1 January 2030, economic operators are not be allowed to place on the market packaging in the formats and for the uses listed in Annex V PPWR (Article 25(1)), e.g. single-use plastic packaging for condiments, coffee creamer, sugar, etc. in the HORECA sector. It is particularly important for companies in these areas to consider the future prohibitions at an early stage and to look for alternative forms of packaging.
- Like the current Packaging Act, the draft VerpackDG stipulates that final distributors must offer reusable alternatives for single-use plastic food packaging and disposable cups for beverages (section 49 VerpackDG).
- Environmental claims may only be made in relation to packaging if the packaging properties exceed the applicable minimum requirements of the Packaging Regulation and it is clear exactly what the statement refers to (packaging unit, part of the packaging unit or all packaging placed on the market). Here, “environmental claims” means statements that the packaging has a positive or no impact on the environment or is less harmful to the environment. See also the Empower Consumers Directive ((EU) 2024/825), which amended the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive with respect to greenwashing.
Specific labelling obligations
There have previously been no standardised labelling requirements for packaging in the EU. While packaging is generally not subject to mandatory labelling under German law either, France already has specific labelling obligations that also apply to packaging that originates from abroad.
The PPWR seeks to harmonise the current set of inconsistent national regulations by introducing uniform labelling requirements. Information that packaging must contain in future includes the following:
- Details about the material composition of the packaging in the form of easily understandable pictograms. The specific pictograms will be defined by the Commission in implementing acts before 12 August 2026. Under the draft VerpackDG, packaging must also be marked with the corresponding abbreviations (e.g. “PVC”, “PET” or “ALU”, section 4 VerpackDG).
- Packaging can also include a QR code or another standardised open digital data carrier. Among other things, the QR codes can contain information about the destination of each individual component of the packaging, i.e. how the individual components of the packaging are to be sorted by consumers when disposed of.
- Packaging must be labelled with the name, address and, if applicable, electronic contact details of the manufacturers and importers of the packaging. Manufacturers of packaging must also ensure that their packaging bears a type, batch or serial number or another element allowing its identification. These requirements apply in addition to other product labelling rules, for example those under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (Elektro- und Elektronikgerätegesetz, “ElektroG”), the Ordinance on Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (Elektro- und Elektronikgeräte-Stoff-Verordnung, “ElektroStoffV”), the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) and under numerous specific harmonised product regulations adopted under the New Legislative Framework. This will also guarantee consistent traceability for packaging in future.
- Reusable packaging must bear a label informing users that the packaging is reusable so as to clearly differentiate the reusable packaging from single-use packaging.
Register of producers and extended producer responsibility
The new extended producer responsibility and the requirement to register in a register of producers are particularly important requirements that will now apply to producers as defined by the Packaging Regulation.
The Packaging Regulation establishes a new definition of producers that differs in part from other producer definitions (for example, the Batteries Regulation and the WEEE Directive). The new definition is very broad, and covers not only the manufacturer, but also the importer and the distributor in various scenarios. Even parties that do not produce the packaging themselves and are not manufacturers, but are distributors can nevertheless concurrently be regarded as producers within the meaning of the Packaging Regulation, for example if they make packaging available in a Member State for the first time or unpack packaged products in a Member State without there being another producer in that Member State. A detailed review of these roles is therefore essential to determining the relevant obligations.
The obligations under the PPWR are various and include a requirement on Member States to establish a “register of producers”, comparable to the existing registers for producers of batteries and electrical and electronic equipment. Producers must join the register when they make packaging or packaged products available in the respective Member State for the first time or when they unpack packaged products (without being the end user). Registration encompasses both notification of responsibility as a producer as well as notification of the packaging types concerned, which must be kept up to date. Since each Member State will have its own register, producers may – depending on the national laws of each Member State – need to register in a number of, or even all, Member States and should therefore check carefully whether and in which Member States they fall under the definition of producer and are subject to registration.
- Producers are also obliged to notify the competent authority of the quantities of packaging (broken down by type of packaging) they have made available for the first time in the respective Member State or from what total quantity of packaging they have unpacked packaged products.
- It can be assumed that LUCID, the German packaging register kept by the Central Agency Packaging Register (Stiftung Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister), will be adapted and extended if necessary (see section 38 draft VerpackDG). Other Member States have already introduced packaging registers, making it advisable to review the corresponding registration obligations now.
- The PPWR clarifies that manufacturers bear extended producer responsibility for packaging or packaged products that they make available or unpack for the first time in the EU. Extended producer responsibility for packaging was already part of the Packaging Directive and was required to be implemented by Member States by 31 December 2024 (Article 7(2) Directive 94/62/EC). Producers will have to make financial contributions to cover the “costs of labelling waste receptacles” and the “costs of carrying out compositional surveys of collected mixed municipal waste”. The details of how this is to be organised will depend on the national laws of the individual Member States.
- The German Packaging Act already includes extended producer responsibility: Producers of packaging requiring licensing must register with one or more systems for the nationwide return of packaging waste before placing the product on the market. This system is retained in the draft VerpackDG (section 7), and a number of other Member States already have comparable provisions in force.
Obligations of economic operators
The PPWR not only lays down the aforementioned packaging requirements, but introduces a specific set of obligations for a wide range of economic operators. All economic operators who manufacture, produce or use packaging or packaging material, or who place packaging – whether empty or with a product – on the market should make sure they are aware of the new obligations and take the necessary steps well in advance.
- A manufacturer of packaging or a packaged product may only place packaging on the market that fulfils the requirements of the PPWR. To ensure that this is the case, the manufacturer must carry out a conformity assessment procedure or arrange for one to be carried out on its behalf. If the packaging complies with the said requirements – which we have summarised above – the manufacturer can draw up a declaration of conformity. The manufacturer must also label its packaging (see above). All of this means that the mechanisms of product regulation are increasingly being applied to packaging.
- Suppliers of packaging or packaging materials must provide the manufacturer of packaging or a packaged product with the information and documentation necessary for the manufacturer to demonstrate that the packaging or packaging materials comply with the provisions of the PPWR.
- Packaging placed on the market in the EU (from a third country) by importers must meet the requirements set out in Articles 5-12 PPWR and cannot be placed on the market until it does.
- When making packaging available on the market, distributors must act “with due care” in relation to the requirements of the Regulation (Article 19). In terms of extended producer responsibility, distributors are required to verify that the producer is registered in the register of producers (see above), that the packaging is labelled in accordance with Article 12, that the manufacturer complies with the requirements of Article 15(5) (manufacturer’s obligation to label the packaging so that it can identified) and (6) (manufacturer’s obligation to provide contact information) and that the importer complies with Article 18(3) (importer’s obligation to provide contact information).
- Fulfilment service providers – i.e. “any natural or legal person offering, in the course of commercial activity, at least two of the following services: warehousing, packaging, addressing and dispatching, without having ownership of the products involved, excluding postal services [...]” (Article 3, no. 11 Regulation (EU) 2019/1020) – must ensure that the packaging, whether empty or with a product, fulfils the requirements set out in Articles 5-12 from the time of warehousing to dispatch. Under the new Regulation, fulfilment service providers may be obliged to request that producers remedy non-compliant packaging within a set timeframe. If a producer fails to do so, the fulfilment service provider must suspend its services until the requirements are met. This new provision may well lead to disputes among producers, distributors and fulfilment service providers.
Important changes for online platforms
Online platforms that enable producers to conclude distance contracts with consumers must obtain information from the relevant producers on their registration and extended producer responsibility compliance. Prior to allowing producers to use its services, an online platform provider must “make best efforts” to assess whether the information received from the producer is complete and reliable (Article 45 PPWR).
Conclusion and outlook
The Packaging Regulation introduces a large number of new obligations and responsibilities for all companies that manufacture, produce or use packaging or packaging material or place packaging – whether empty or with a product – on the market. With most of the obligations coming into force as early as 12 August 2026, businesses should waste no time in getting to grips with them and drawing up concrete plans for implementing the requirements.
But the EU Member States also have work to do: They must ensure that the harmonised labels enabling the separate collection of packaging waste are “affixed, printed or engraved visibly, legibly and indelibly” on all waste receptacles intended for this purpose (Article 13(1) PPWR). Member States must also reduce the packaging waste generated per capita by at least 5 % by 2030, at least 10 % by 2035 and at least 15 % by 2040, in each case relative to the base year 2018. In achieving these targets, each Member State must “endeavour” to reduce the quantity of plastic packaging waste generated.
Companies have voiced their concerns about the stringent requirements of the Packaging Regulation. Federal Minister for the Environment Carsten Schneider said that he had already done his best in June this year to convince the European Commission that the Packaging Regulation should not apply until January 2027, and would continue to push for this. It is not yet clear whether the start date will actually be postponed. Companies should therefore assume that the new obligations will apply as from 12 August 2026 and prepare accordingly. However, the European Commission is planning further simplifications with the so-called Environmental Omnibus (“Simplification of administrative burden in environmental legislation”), including a reduction in reporting requirements for companies regarding packaging waste. The PPWR is expected to remain largely unaffected otherwise.
The draft bill for the VerpackDG has been submitted by the Federal Ministry for consultation with the Federal States and associations, a process which will run until 5 December 2025. The plan is for the VerpackDG to be adopted by the Federal Cabinet in the first quarter of 2026, after which it will have to be passed by the Federal Parliament (Bundestag).
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