Introduction - the Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste

Even though the relevant EU legislation has been in place for ten years now, and is fully in force in all of the EU Member States, there is still a great deal of confusion and uncertainty regarding the legal obligations on companies that produce and use packaging, and how these companies can ensure that they meet the demands that are made of them. But these obligations are relatively simple and straightforward. This article highlights some of the most important.

Within the European market, the obligation to comply with EU packaging law is not something that is confined to just one part of the packaging chain. A wide range of packaging chain stakeholders is affected by this legislation, from suppliers of packaging material to packaging converters and end users, who include all manufacturers of packaged goods.

EU law on packaging is shaped by the Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste (94/62/EC), which every Member State is obliged to transpose into national law, and to enforce. This Directive has two main aims, the first relating to protection of the environment, while the second is concerned with the functioning of the EU Internal Market. So on the one hand the Directive is intended “to prevent any impact […] on the environment of all Member States as well as of third countries or to reduce such impacts, thus providing a high level of environmental protection,” while on the other it is concerned “to avoid obstacles to trade and distortions and restrictions of competition within the Community”.

Indeed Article 9 of the Directive ties these two elements together, by stipulating that all packaging that meets its criteria for environmental protection, and is approved in one Member State, is guaranteed free access to the entire European Community market. Similarly, Article 18 forbids Member States from impeding the placing on the market in their territories of packaging that meets the Directive’s environmental criteria. This fundamental legal principle led to the Danish government being forced to lift its well-known ban on beverage cans during the 1990s.