Brussels – August is drawing near and, with it, the implementation of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), scheduled for 12 August 2026. It is precisely regarding the adoption of this controversial regulation that eight Member States have today (25 June) taken a firm stand against it in Brussels. Italy, together with the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia, presented a document at a meeting of the Environment Council calling on the European Commission to provide “greater clarity” on the measures that businesses will have to implement from August onwards. The eight countries warn the EU executive that “it is unrealistic to expect industry to undertake substantial investments without a clear, stable approach and predictable obligations”.
The document refers to the European legislation that came into force on 11 February 2025, a regulation introducing a new set of obligations covering the entire life cycle of packaging, from design to waste management. On paper, the measures due to come into force aim to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption by 2030, while limiting the negative impacts of packaging on the environment and human health; however, these governments argue that the reality in the industry is proving quite different.
The document states that, according to the signatory countries, the packaging regulation is “too stringent for small and medium-sized enterprises” and “several essential requirements remain insufficiently defined,” not to mention the “considerable scale of the associated costs” that will be borne by businesses in the European Union. The overall impact is expected to amount to “billions of euros across the EU and will have limited or even negative consequences for the circular economy.” The estimates reported by the eight Member States are said to be based precisely on the European Commission’s impact assessment, which indicates a potential increase of around €160 per household, substantial figures that risk imposing a significant burden on European industry and citizens, weakening competitiveness, and disproportionately affecting SMEs.
Against this backdrop, the ministers of the eight Member States are therefore calling on the Commission to “urgently provide a clear and consolidated timetable” for the preparation and adoption of the Regulation on packaging and packaging waste. They are also asking to “prioritise and accelerate the preparation and adoption of measures essential for legal
certainty, enforcement and investment planning, including by urgently updating and
further developing the existing Guidance document and Frequently Asked Questions to
provide clearer, more detailed and most of all operational explanations of key obligations” of the regulation. Finally, to safeguard the market, the Member States are calling on Brussels to “engage in a structured dialogue with the Member States, in particular with national market surveillance authorities,” so as to establish a common approach across the EU before it is too late.
