Legal provisions:

According to Point l, Annex X, ‘Member States shall ensure that final distributors are obligated to accept the deposit bearing packaging of the packaging material and format that they distribute and to provide end users with redeemed deposits when the deposit bearing packaging is returned, unless end users have equally accessible means to redeem the deposit after the use of the deposit bearing packaging, through one of the collection channels that, for food packaging, ensure food grade recycling and that are authorised for that purpose by the national authorities. This obligation does not apply where the sale surface area does not make possible for end users to return deposit bearing packaging. However, final distributors will always have to accept the return of the empty packaging of products they sell’. Article 50(11) sets that ‘By 1 January 2029, Member States shall ensure that at least the deposit and return systems established under paragraph 2 of this Article following the entry into force of this Regulation meet the minimum requirements listed in Annex X. The minimum requirements listed in Annex X shall not apply to deposit and return systems established before the entry into force of this Regulation which achieve the 90 % target set out in paragraph 1 of this Article by 1 January 2029. Member States shall endeavour to ensure that existing single-use deposit and return systems comply with the minimum requirements in Annex X when they are first reviewed. If the 90 % target is not achieved by 1 January 2029, existing single-use deposit and return systems shall comply with the minimum requirements in Annex X at the latest by 1 January 2035’.

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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.