Commission’s interpretation:

Packaging minimisation requirements help Member States achieve their general packaging waste reduction targets in a harmonised manner and reduce the need to recur to divergent national measures to comply with the waste prevention target as laid down in Article 43. These are not new requirements. They already existed under the PPWD as essential requirements with an associated harmonised compliance methodology standard (EN 13428:2004) (22). While the elements for the assessment of packaging minimisation have been moved from the harmonised standard into the PPWR, ‘consumer acceptance’ and ‘marketing’ were removed as reasons (‘performance criteria’) justifying extra packaging weight and volume. On the other hand, other reasons, such as recyclability, recycled content or re-use, were added as new criteria. To implement this modification, the PPWR mandates the Commission to request CEN to update the existing standard by 12 February 2027. In addition to the updated methodology for assessment, the updated standard will provide for the maximum adequate weight and volume limits for the most common packaging types and formats. Standardisation will help industry prove compliance with the minimisation requirements, given that compliance with a harmonised standard creates a presumption of compliance with the sustainability requirement. Member States will have to accept such compliant packaging and allow it to be made available on their markets without the possibility of setting different or additional national requirements. According to Article 70(1)(b), the existing packaging minimisation requirements and their compliance standard will remain in effect until the end of 2029. After that, both paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 10 will apply (from 1 January 2030), while the existing harmonised standard EN 13428:2004 can still be used as guidance but only until a new or updated standard is available. Industry will have the opportunity to contribute to the development of new standards through their experts in the regular standardisation process. In this process, issues such as packaging ‘shape’ and packaging functionality will be duly taken into account.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.