Glosario PPWR

PPWR distinguishes two distinct roles. (1) Article 17 — design-side authorised representative, voluntarily appointed by a manufacturer to handle conformity tasks in the Union. (2) Article 45 — EPR-side authorised representative, mandatorily appointed by a producer placing packaging in a Member State where it is not established. The two are separate written appointments.

Referencia del Artículo Articles 17 & 45

Technical annex specifying the format and content of the EU Declaration of Conformity required by Article 39 — manufacturer identification, packaging identification, the harmonised standards or technical specifications applied, signatory details and place/date of issue.

Referencia del Artículo Annex VIII

The process by which a manufacturer demonstrates that a packaging unit meets the essential PPWR requirements set out in Annex II Part 1. Outcome: an EU Declaration of Conformity (template in Annex VIII) plus the technical documentation supporting it, kept available to authorities for 5 years, or 10 years for reusable packaging.

Referencia del Artículo Article 39 + Annex II Part 1

Packaging in direct contact with food, feed, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals or medical devices. It carries its own recycled-content targets under Article 7(1), separate from other plastic packaging, and is subject to the Article 5 substance-of-concern regime including the PFAS limits of Article 5(5). Article 7(5) provides derogations recognising input-stream and food-safety constraints; the Commission reviews them before 1 January 2028.

Referencia del Artículo Article 7(1) & Article 5

Packaging certified for industrial composting (EN 13432 or equivalent). PPWR Article 9 designates the formats that must be industrially compostable — tea/coffee bags, sticky fruit labels, and single-serve coffee capsules where Member States require. Compostable packaging is exempt from the Article 7 recycled-content thresholds.

Referencia del Artículo Article 9

The percentage of packaging waste collected for recycling relative to the amount placed on the market. PPWR carries forward the Member-State recycling targets from Directive 94/62/EC (e.g. 65% all packaging by 2025, 70% by 2030) and adds the 90% by 2029 separate-collection target for single-use plastic and metal beverage containers via the Article 50 DRS.

Referencia del Artículo Article 50 (DRS)

Secondary EU acts that detail PPWR requirements — the Article 6 design-for-recycling criteria and grade methodology, the Article 7(8) recycled-content calculation rules, the Article 12(6) labelling pictograms and the Article 44(14) registration format. As of 25 July 2026 exactly one has been adopted: Delegated Decision C(2026) 511 of 25 February 2026, exempting palletisation films and straps from the Article 29 100% reuse targets. The Article 12(6) and 44(14) acts are overdue. Every deadline that depends on an unadopted act is a floor, not a fixed date.

Referencia del Artículo Delegated & implementing acts under PPWR

The mandatory document by which the manufacturer, or its Article 17 authorised representative, asserts that a packaging type meets the PPWR requirements of Articles 5 to 12. The template is Annex VIII; the supporting evidence is the Annex VII technical documentation, produced through the Article 38 conformity assessment. Both are kept available to market-surveillance authorities for five years after the last unit is placed on the market — ten years for reusable packaging. Not to be confused with the technical documentation itself, which is the file behind the declaration, not the declaration.

Referencia del Artículo Article 39 + Annex VIII

A digital record of standardised product information. The Digital Product Passport — an ESPR (EU) 2024/1781 instrument, not a PPWR one — applies to a product group only once an ESPR delegated act covers it. No packaging DPP is in force, proposed or scheduled: packaging is not in the ESPR 2025-2030 working plan, and the first genuinely mandatory passport is the battery passport of 18 February 2027. What PPWR requires is a labelling data carrier under Article 12, and only that: where another EU act already mandates a passport for the product inside, the same carrier conveys both. Not to be confused with that Article 12 data carrier.

Referencia del Artículo ESPR (EU) 2024/1781 — not PPWR

Pasaporte Digital de Producto →

A collection system where consumers pay a deposit on beverage containers, refunded upon return. PPWR Article 50 requires every Member State to operate a DRS for single-use plastic and metal beverage containers up to 3 L by 1 January 2029, achieving at least 90% separate collection by weight per year.

Referencia del Artículo Article 50

An economic operator in the supply chain — other than the manufacturer or the importer — that makes packaging available on the EU market. Must check that packaging carries the required Article 12 labelling and that an EU Declaration of Conformity exists upstream.

Referencia del Artículo Article 3 (definitions)

Guidelines ensuring packaging can be efficiently sorted and processed in existing recycling infrastructure — material compatibility, adhesive compatibility, colour standards, label placement. Under PPWR Article 6 the design-for-recycling criteria per packaging category are set by Commission delegated acts, which have not been adopted; they will feed the A/B/C grade assessment for the categories listed in Annex II. Not to be confused with recyclability at scale, the second limb of Article 6, which is about actual recycling volumes from 2035.

Referencia del Artículo Article 6

A regulatory framework requiring producers to take financial responsibility for managing the end-of-life of the packaging they place on the EU market — funding collection, sorting, treatment and recycling. Implemented per Member State; producers must register (Article 44) and, when not established locally, designate an authorised representative (Article 45).

Referencia del Artículo Articles 44 & 45

Any natural or legal person placing packaging on the EU market in the course of commercial activity — manufacturer, importer, distributor, fulfilment service provider, final distributor, or authorised representative. The category that triggers PPWR obligations as a whole.

Referencia del Artículo Article 3 (definitions)

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 establishing ecodesign requirements for sustainable products and the EU Digital Product Passport (DPP). The PPWR DPP data carrier (Article 12) shares the DPP infrastructure set up under the ESPR.

Referencia del Artículo Regulation (EU) 2024/1781

Pasaporte Digital de Producto →

Packaging conceived to group a number of sales units at the point of sale — whether sold as such to the end user, easing shelf restocking, or serving as a stock or distribution unit — and removable without affecting the product. Corresponds to secondary packaging (recital 10). From 1 January 2030 it carries the 50% empty-space cap of Article 24 (or three years after the implementing act, whichever is later) and a 10% reuse target under Article 29.

Referencia del Artículo Article 3 + Article 24

Palets, film estirable, flejado: lo que el PPWR espera de los importadores →

Standardised EU pictogram-based labelling on packaging providing material-composition and disposal information. PPWR Article 12 mandates the labelling format from 12 August 2028; the harmonised symbols themselves come through an implementing act due 12 August 2026. Article 14 mirrors the same pictograms onto waste-collection bins.

Referencia del Artículo Article 12

A natural or legal person established in the EU that places packaging from a non-EU manufacturer on the EU market. Must verify the manufacturer has met PPWR design-conformity requirements, that technical documentation exists, and that an Article 45 authorised representative is in place where required.

Referencia del Artículo Article 3 (definitions)

An entity producing packaging or having packaging designed or manufactured under its name or brand. Bears the bulk of the design-conformity load: technical documentation, conformity assessment, EU Declaration of Conformity, traceability of supplied components, and identification information on or accompanying the packaging.

Referencia del Artículo Article 15

Activities performed by national competent authorities to verify packaging compliance with PPWR — inspections, sampling, testing, document requests. Authorities may withdraw non-compliant packaging from the market and impose penalties. The framework references Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance.

An accounting method tracking recycled-content claims through supply chains using input/output documentation rather than physical traceability of every molecule. The methodology used to substantiate the Article 7 PCR thresholds is set by Commission implementing act.

Referencia del Artículo Article 7 (implementing act)

PPWR Article 10 + Annex IV require each packaging unit to be reduced to the minimum weight, volume and number of layers compatible with safety and functionality. Bans purely cosmetic features that inflate perceived volume (double walls, false bottoms, non-essential layers). Article 24 caps the empty-space ratio in transport / e-commerce packaging at 50% from 1 January 2030.

Referencia del Artículo Article 10 + Annex IV

Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU) 2025/40. The comprehensive EU regulation governing packaging design, labelling, recycled content and producer responsibility. Entered into force on 11 February 2025 — the twentieth day after publication in the Official Journal on 22 January 2025 — with general application from 12 August 2026 and progressive deadlines through 2040. Not to be confused with the repealed Directive 94/62/EC, which it replaces, or with the Single-Use Plastics Directive 2019/904, which remains in force alongside it.

Referencia del Artículo Regulation (EU) 2025/40

Persistent synthetic chemicals capped by PPWR Article 5(5) in food-contact packaging from 12 August 2026: 25 ppb for a targeted substance, 250 ppb for the sum, 50 ppm for total fluorine including polymeric PFAS. These are concentration limits, not a ban on intentional addition, and the Commission has granted no sell-through of existing stock. Not to be confused with the heavy-metal limit of Article 5(4), which caps the sum of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium at 100 mg/kg.

Referencia del Artículo Article 5(5)

A three-tier classification under PPWR Article 6, assigned per packaging category listed in Annex II: grades A, B and C. The grades become binding on 1 January 2030, when packaging below grade C can no longer be placed on the EU market; from 1 January 2038 packaging must be at least grade B (recital 28). No numeric threshold per grade is fixed in any published act — the design-for-recycling delegated acts are not adopted, so figures such as 95/80/70 circulating online are unsourced. Not to be confused with grades D and E, which come from the 2022 proposal and are not in the adopted text.

Referencia del Artículo Article 6 + Annex II

The minimum share of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic in plastic packaging. The thresholds are in Article 7 itself — Article 7(1) for 2030, Article 7(2) for 2040 — and cover plastic packaging only. Confirmed 2030 values: 10% for contact-sensitive packaging other than PET, 30% for single-use plastic beverage bottles, 35% for other plastic packaging. Compliance is assessed as an average per manufacturing plant and per year, not per packaging unit. Not to be confused with recyclability, which is about whether the packaging can be recycled, not what it is made from.

Referencia del Artículo Article 7(1) & 7(2)

Infrastructure enabling packaging refill or take-back-and-reuse cycles. Articles 26-27 set general operational requirements for closed-loop and open-loop systems; Article 29 sets binding 2030 reuse targets per packaging family (40% transport, 10% beverage sales, 10% HORECA); Article 30 covers refill obligations for large retailers and HORECA; Article 31 sets common provisions.

Referencia del Artículo Articles 26 - 31

Packaging conceived, designed and placed on the market to accomplish multiple trips or rotations within a reuse system. Article 11 sets the qualification criteria (minimum rotations per format set by delegated act due 12 February 2027); Article 13 mandates the "reusable" label and a QR code linking to the reuse system; Article 29 sets the 2030/2040 reuse targets.

Referencia del Artículo Article 11

Substances that hinder reuse or recycling, or are hazardous. Article 5(1) requires them to be minimised in packaging from 12 August 2026. Two carry numeric limits: the heavy-metal sum of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium at 100 mg/kg for the four combined (Article 5(4), inherited from Directive 94/62/EC), and the PFAS limits in food-contact packaging (Article 5(5)). PPWR attaches no named list to Article 5 — a substance is in scope because it meets the definition, not because it appears on a roster.

Referencia del Artículo Article 5(1), 5(4), 5(5)

Packaging conceived, designed and placed on the market to be used once before disposal or recycling. Subject to the Article 25 + Annex V format bans (SUP grouped multi-pack outers, SUP fruit/vegetable wrap under 1.5 kg, SUP HORECA single-serve condiments, SUP hotel toiletries, very lightweight plastic carrier bags) from 1 January 2030.

Referencia del Artículo Article 25 + Annex V

A unique identifier for a distinct packaging item or product variant. In PPWR Connect, each SKU carries its packaging composition, recyclability grade, recycled content and compliance documents — it is the unit at which conformity is assessed and a Declaration of Conformity is issued.

The base packaging material onto which printing and finishing are applied — e.g. paper, board, corrugated, PET, PE, aluminium or glass. Substrate type, grammage and recycled content are the primary inputs to recyclability grading (Article 6) and recycled-content thresholds (Article 7).

Referencia del Artículo Article 6 + Article 7

Packaging conceived to facilitate the handling and transport of several sales units or grouped packagings so they arrive undamaged — the pallet under a load, the stretch film around it and the straps over it; Article 29(1) lists pallet wrappings and straps expressly. Corresponds to tertiary packaging (recital 10); road, rail, ship and air containers are excluded from the definition. Each transport unit placed on the market is packaging in its own right — assessed, declared and counted in EPR volumes — and e-commerce shipping boxes are regulated at this level (Article 3(1)(8)).

Referencia del Artículo Article 3 + Article 29

Palets, film estirable, flejado: lo que el PPWR espera de los importadores →