EU Packaging Regulations Compliance and Enforcement

BATH, Wiltshire, May 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Companies who sell packaging and packaged goods in Europe must comply with packaging substance restrictions, reusability and marking requirements, and register as a 'packaging producer' in EU Member States and provide for packaging collection, recycling and reporting. The Packaging Directive 2004/12/EC, as amended, sets recycling and recovery targets but does not stipulate how EU Member States should achieve the targets. As a result, each Member State has implemented their own national regulations which place obligations on 'packaging producers', including suppliers of packaging materials, packaging producers and converters, fillers and users, importers and traders and distributors of packaging and packaged goods.

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Companies who sell packaged products across Europe have legal obligations to comply with the Packaging Regulations in some, or all, of the 28 EU Member States. There are significant differences in the legal requirements in different EU Member States, including:

• What types of company must register as a packaging producer
• How a company must calculate its packaging obligation

Companies face challenges to understand their legal exposure in each of the 28 Member States, and manage compliance to registration, recycling and reporting obligations, and keep up-to-date with the ever-changing regulations in each country. Did you know:                                                          

• The UK Environment Agency website publishes company names and details of 23 Enforcement Undertakings carried out in 2015 for packaging non-compliance. Environment Agency press releases published in August and October 2015 publicise a £415,000 packaging enforcement undertaking by organic baby food company HiPP and the prosecution of online trading company Babz Media for non-compliance with WEEE, Batteries and Packaging regulations.  
• From January 2016 packaging producers in Finland must provide a nationwide network of collection points for consumer packaging. Under the new Packaging Regulations the local authorities in Finland are no longer legally responsible for the collection of household packaging waste.  
• Mandatory packaging labelling requirements have been introduced in several Member States. From January 2015 packaging producers in France must include the 'Triman' logo on all recyclable household packaging, either directly on the product packaging or in the user instructions or on the producer's website. From October 2015 packaging producers in Romania must label their packaging with the material identification system specified in Commission Decision 97/129/EC.
  

Thinkstep Compliance is providing free webinars on Thursday 9 June to help companies understand their packaging obligations across Europe.

Registration for the first webinar on 9 June at 9.00 am Central European Time, 8.00 am UK Time is available at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5470100409405969412

Registration for the second webinar on 9 June at 10.00 am US Eastern Time, 4.00 pm Central European Time, 3.00 pm UK time is available at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7744642521600196612

About Thinkstep Compliance  

Thinkstep Compliance has won multiple awards over the past 12 years for its managed services which enable hundreds of companies to comply with WEEE, Batteries and Packaging regulations across Europe. Thinkstep Compliance Limited is a subsidiary of Thinkstep AG, the global sustainability software company with 250 sustainability experts in 28 offices across 16 countries. Further details about the WEEE, Batteries and Packaging managed compliance services are available at http://www.EC4P.com.