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OPINION (COM(2022)0677 – C90400/2022 – 2022/0396(COD))

On the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on packaging and packaging waste, amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and Directive (EU) 2019/904, and repealing Directive 94/62/EC

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Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection · Rapporteur: Virginie Joron

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The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection gives its opinion on the proposed regulation on packaging and packaging waste, which amends Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and Directive (EU) 2019/904 and repeals Directive 94/62/EC. It welcomes the proposal's ambition on waste, the environment and the circular economy, but shares the reservations of the Regulatory Scrutiny Board and calls for clarifications. It proposes amendments on consumer sorting tools, deadlines for delegated and implementing acts, a Packaging Forum expert group, relief for micro-enterprises and SMEs, and recycled content calculated as an average per undertaking. It also amends rules on reusable packaging, labelling, restrictions on certain packaging formats postponed to 2030, re-use targets with exemptions, and postpones the entry into force.

Committee position. The committee calls on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety to take its amendments into account. It welcomes the proposal's ambition but seeks clarifications on consumer protection, deadlines, a Packaging Forum, SME burdens, recycled content, reusable packaging, labelling, restrictions, re-use targets and entry into force.

Key points

  1. Consumers play a key role in collecting and sorting waste, and Member States should keep promoting accessible, easily understandable sorting and disposal tools.
  2. Clear deadlines should be set for adopting delegated and implementing acts, such as those on recycled content requirements, to give stakeholders legal certainty.
  3. A Packaging Forum expert group should involve Member States and the whole packaging sector in defining targets, exemptions, recycling design criteria and minimum recycled content percentages.
  4. Member States should ensure that Article 11 labelling requirements do not create disproportionate administrative and economic burdens for micro-enterprises and SMEs.
  5. The minimum recycled content obligation for plastic packaging should be calculated as an average for all plastic packaging placed on the market by each undertaking, not per unit, where infrastructure is in place.
  6. Reusable packaging production should be encouraged in the Union, purchases from third countries minimised, and products from third countries must comply with the European regulatory framework.
  7. Labelling must respect rules on protected geographical indications and intellectual property, and the focus on QR codes and other digital data carriers is endorsed.
  8. Restrictions on certain packaging formats should be postponed until 2030, and micro- and small-enterprises in the Horeca sector exempted from the single-use food and beverage packaging restriction.
  9. Re-use targets should exempt certain economic sectors and set deadlines as late as 2030 for others, with an exemption where alternative formats deliver better environmental, economic, health and hygiene outcomes.
  10. The entry into force of the proposal should be postponed to give Member States and economic operators more time to adapt.
  11. Amendments add harmonised colour labelling with pictograms, mandatory recycled content labelling, and rules on online marketplaces and fulfilment service providers meeting extended producer responsibility requirements.
  12. Amendments set market surveillance rules: risk-based checks, respect for the right to be heard, and alerts to health authorities without undue delay for contact-sensitive packaging.

Who is affected

  • Consumers, who would get harmonised colour labels, pictograms and digital information to sort and dispose of packaging.
  • Micro-enterprises and SMEs, which would be exempt from certain labelling obligations and receive incentives.
  • Manufacturers, importers, distributors and authorised representatives, which take on conformity, documentation and complaint-handling duties.
  • Providers of online marketplaces and fulfilment service providers, which must comply with extended producer responsibility requirements.
  • The Horeca sector's micro- and small-enterprises, exempted from the single-use food and beverage packaging restriction.

Figures and deadlines

  • Restrictions on certain packaging formats postponed until 2030.
  • Re-use target deadlines as late as 2030 for certain sectors.
  • Labelling obligation from 36 months after entry into force, or 24 months after adoption of implementing acts if delayed.
  • Reusable packaging label from 42 months after entry into force, or 30 months after adoption of implementing acts if delayed.
  • Commission implementing acts on the harmonised label by 12 months after entry into force.
  • Commission implementing acts on material composition methodology by 12 months after entry into force.
  • Manufacturers keep technical documentation and EU declaration of conformity for 10 years after packaging is placed on the market.
  • Evaluation of the Regulation 6 years after the date of application.