The European Organization for Packaging and the Environment, announced it has published a new edition of its guide to the CEN Packaging Standards.

“Essential Requirements for Packaging in Europe – A Practical Guide to Using the CEN Standards” is intended to ensure companies comply with the EU’s Essential Requirements for Packaging set out in Annex 1 of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC).  These requirements relate to the manufacturing and composition of packaging, specifications to ensure packaging is recoverable from the waste stream and its suitability for reuse when appropriate.

Compliance with the Essential Requirements has been a legal obligation for all packaging since January 1998. While use of the CEN Standards is voluntary, they are a means for companies to demonstrate that their packaging complies with the Essential Requirements. All packaging that conforms to the CEN Standards is automatically assumed to comply with the Essential Requirements and must be allowed on the market, unless regulatory authorities can prove otherwise.

Regulatory authorities in EU Member States are soon expected to up their efforts to monitor the compliance of packaging with the Essential Requirements. This follows the 2004 revision of the Directive 94/62/EC that called on the European Commission to “present proposals for measures to strengthen and complement enforcement of the Essential Requirements.”

The legal obligation affects all sectors of the packaging chain, from raw materials suppliers and packaging manufacturers, to companies placing packaged goods on the EU market and retailers who package their own goods.  Packaged goods imported from outside the EU are similarly obliged.

EUROPEN’s updated guide to the CEN Standards therefore fulfils an important need for all companies that produce or use packaging. The 70-page publication provides both a summary for experienced users, and a more detailed guide with step-by-step instructions for those who are less familiar with the CEN Standards. It also supplies a directory of useful contacts.

The guide can be ordered from the EUROPEN website (http://www.europen.be/whats/whats_publications.html) in electronic format for €150. A printed version is available for €160.

EUROPEN also provides a sample Summary Assessment Record form, which can be used to assemble documentation to show compliance with the Essential Requirements. This Excel form can be downloaded free of charge from the EUROPEN website (http://www.europen.be/whats/whats_publications.html).

For further information or to obtain a copy of the guide contact EUROPEN:

The European Organization for Packaging and the Environment
Avenue de l’Armée 6 Legerlaan
B – 1040 Brussels

Phone: + 32 2 736 3600
Fax: + 32 2 736 3521
packaging@europen.be
www.europen.be