2026 is a big year for packaging regulation in Europe, with the EU and the UK both launching landmark reforms that will determine how businesses design and manage packaging across markets.
In this article, Kerry Stares, Partner and ESG Advisory Lead, Rory Partridge, Associate, and Lyla Gilbert, Solicitor Apprentice at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, take a closer look at the key similarities and differences between the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, and the UK’s Producer Responsibility Organisations.
The UK and EU share similar policy objectives on packaging and packaging waste, namely to make those who ‘produce’ packaging and packaged products in the supply chain responsible for the costs of waste management and discourage the creation of excess packaging by linking producer fees to volume and/or recyclability – a concept widely known as ‘extended producer responsibility’.
The UK Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024/1332 (UK PRO) are already in effect. The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU PPWR) will take effect on 12 August 2026.
Both regimes apply to empty packaging and to packaged products and affect all businesses in their supply chains, whether those businesses supply B2B or direct to consumer. Both adopt a very broad definition of packaging - any material used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery or presentation of goods – and include packaging for sales units to final consumers, packaging grouping multiple items together, and packaging facilitating the transport of goods.
Under both regimes, businesses should keep in mind that not all regulated packaging may be immediately obvious as such, for example clothes hangers sold with clothing items, tags hung from products, sticky labels attached to boxes, bags or products, tubes around which foil or film is wrapped and single-serve units containing tea and coffee.
However, the UK PRO and PPWR are different in important respects. Most notably, the PPWR goes much further than imposing extended producer responsibility for packaging waste and lays down rules about the sustainability and labelling of packaging that cover the entire packaging lifecycle. Some requirements of the new EU PPWR take effect on 12 August 2026; others will kick in after 2028 – the ultimate objective being to prevent non-compliant packaging entering the EU market.
Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging and Packaging Waste) Regulations 2024/1332 (UK PRO)
The UK PRO came into force in January 2025, requiring producers to collect and report on packaging-related data, with the application and extent of those obligations dependant on business turnover and tonnes of packaging produced. Producers deemed to be “large” (£2m turnover and 50 tonnes of packaging) are also subject to recycling targets and assessments and payment of certain fees and costs.
A producer is not necessarily whoever physically produces the packaging. A producer can be a brand owner, packer/filler, importer, distributor or online marketplace operator, though in most instances the business closest to the first supply of packaging in the supply chain will be deemed the “first producer” with the relevant obligations, preventing others further down the supply chain from also holding those obligations.
The treatment of a “brand owner” merits particular attention. Where a UK-established person’s own brand appears on filled packaging, that person is the “brand owner” with producer obligations. However, where the brand is owned by a group entity that is not deemed to be established in the UK for the purpose of UK PRO, it is less clear.
The regulations then look instead to whichever UK-established member of the same corporate group makes the supply of the filled branded packaging, deeming that entity to be the “brand owner” for the purpose of producer obligations, even though it does not own the brand in the intellectual property sense.
Where no UK group entity makes the relevant supply, no “brand owner” exists for these purposes, and the obligation is likely to fall lower down the supply chain to whichever UK entity acts as importer or first UK owner of the goods.
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) (Regulation (EU) 2025/40)
Like the UK PRO, the EU PPWR imposes obligations on producers. The definition of a producer is still the subject of some clarification, with recent guidance issued by European Commission and the European National Registers (EUNR).
In general terms, a producer is identified in the Member State in which the packaging becomes waste and will be the first entity that makes the packaging available in that Member State; unless delivery is made directly from abroad (from another Member State or a third country) to the consumer or professional end user, in which case the foreign company will be the producer.
By 12 August 2026, producers must register with the appropriate national registry in each Member State in which they make packaging or packaged products available for the first time. A non-EU producer must also appoint an Authorised Representative in each relevant Member States by 12 August 2026, to fulfil its extended producer responsibility obligations on its behalf.
Producers will pay fees in each relevant Member State which, in due course, will be modulated according to new PPWR recyclability performance grades. Producers will also be required to collect and report packaging data, with the first round of reporting expected to fall in 2029 for the year 2028.
Beyond producer responsibility, the PPWR imposes extensive new sustainability and labelling obligations on manufacturers of packaging and packaged products. As a rule of thumb, a manufacturer will be an entity that makes and supplies the packaging, unless the packaging carries a brand, name or trademark, in which case the brand owner will be the manufacturer.
Manufacturers must carry out a Conformity Assessment Procedure and draw up a Declaration of Conformity of and Technical Documentation that demonstrate that the relevant packaging complies with the sustainability and labelling requirements of the PPWR. Manufacturers are also required to ensure packaging is traceable by the authorities, from factory to end user, by including a unique identifying type, batch or serial number on the packaging, together with their name and contact details. From 12 August 2026, without the necessary compliance documentation and traceability labelling, manufacturers will not be able to place packaging on the EU market.
A handful of the PPWR’s sustainability requirements for packaging and packaged products kick in on 12 August 2026 – namely those requiring manufacturers to minimise substances of concern in packaging and comply with specified limits on certain toxic heavy metals and on PFAS (forever chemicals) in food contact packaging. Manufacturers’ Conformity Assessment Procedures will need to cover those requirements from 12 August 2026.
Further implementing legislation is required from the Commission to flesh out the remaining requirements, with minimum rotations for reusable packaging expected after 2027, new harmonised labelling to facilitate consumer sorting expected in 2028 and new recyclability performance grades, packaging minimisation and void space requirements (among others) expected by 2030.
While principal responsibility for compliance with packaging sustainability and labelling requirements falls on manufacturers, other economic operators in the supply chain – importers, distributors and fulfilment service providers - have important subsidiary obligations and should take advice.
UK PRO vs EU PPWR
Whilst both regulations have similar aims and objectives, there are distinct differences in scope:
- The UK PRO only applies to businesses established in the UK, whereas the EU PPWR applies to producers established in a Member State or third country that makes packaging available directly to end users in another Member State.
- The UK PRO exempts producers who fall below the minimum tonnage and turnover thresholds and limits the compliance requirements for small producers to recording and reporting data. The EU PPWR applies to all Producers, regardless of business size and tonnage – even small e-commerce businesses are caught.
- As explained above, the EU PPWR goes beyond imposing extended producer responsibility and creates a raft of new sustainability and labelling requirements for packaging and packaged goods, for which manufacturers are primarily responsible for demonstrating compliance, by carrying out a Conformity Assessment Procedure.
Businesses in the supply chain of packaging or packaged goods entering the EU and/or UK markets must consider their exposure under these regulations as a priority. Keep in mind the very broad definition of packaging under both regimes and take advice if you are unsure.
The UK rules are already in effect and the compliance deadline for EU PPWR is 12 August 2026 – businesses should act now to avoid fines and mitigate the operational risks of goods held at customs facilities or supply chain partners hitting the pause button until you can demonstrate compliance with your obligations.
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