Commission’s interpretation:

The PPWR leaves a margin of discretion to the Member States in some matters or sets only minimum requirements or requires implementation by Member States for provisions which are not fully harmonised. In addition, there are delayed deadlines for application of some provisions. Divergent national provisions for packaging are impacting virtually every economic sector and product’s value chain. Therefore, Member States must ensure that national measures do not create disproportionate and unjustified barriers to trade in the internal market or competitive distortions. Anticipated application of EU harmonised rules, i.e. when Member States adopt binding implementing legislation prior to the harmonised deadlines, in particular if such provisions require implementing measures to be first adopted at EU level, constitutes a breach of the principle of sincere cooperation enshrined in Article 4(3) TEU and of Article 288 TFEU which sets out the principle of direct applicability of regulations. Such anticipation of national legislation, which might be allowed by the existing legal framework (PPWD, Treaty) will have to be repealed at the latest by the entry into force of the harmonised provisions and already be in line with the margin of discretion as provided in specific provisions of the Regulation. As regards the possibility of Member States to introduce sustainability requirements going beyond those laid down in the Regulation, Article 4(2) PPWR gives assurance to the economic operators that packaging which complies with the requirements of the Regulation will not be restricted from being placed on the market by any national rules. Article 4(3) PPWR should be interpreted as restricting the freedom of Member States in their action and not as allowing for the possibility of derogating from the general rule contained in Article 4(2) PPWR. Therefore, any national sustainability or labelling requirement may not restrict the placing on the market of packaging that complies with the sustainability and labelling requirements under the PPWR, may not conflict with these requirements, and may not create barriers to the internal market. Various provisions of the Regulation, specify the margin of Member States’ powers to adopt national measures. or allow Member States to introduce additional exemptions or requirements. This is the case for provisions on compostability (Article 9), restrictions on the use of certain packaging formats (Article 25(2) and (3), Article 70(4), Annex V, point 2, Article 29, on re-use targets (see paragraphs 11, 12, 14, 15, 16), and Article 33(6) on re-use offer. Several provisions (30) require national implementation (e.g. to reach a certain target or to report) and are a mix of fully harmonised requirements and possibilities for national flexibilities. However, the conditions for the use of these ‘flexibilities’ are always ‘framed’ with harmonised conditions and Member States must comply with these conditions to comply with the PPWR (see point 29 below on recycling targets). Some of these provisions contain also directly applicable obligations on economic operators, for example, Article 31 on reporting to the competent authorities on re-use targets.

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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.