§2 Definition of a manufacturer of packaging

Legal provisions: According to Article 3(1), point (13), ‘“manufacturer” means any natural or legal person that manufactures packaging or a packaged product; however: (a) subject to point (b), where a natural or legal person has packaging or a packaged product designed or manufactured under its own name or trademark, regardless of whether any other trademark is visible on the packaging or on the packaged product, “manufacturer” means that natural or legal person; (b) where the natural or legal person that has the packaging or packaged product designed or manufactured under its own name or trademark falls within the definition of micro-enterprise set out in Recommendation 2003/361/EC as applicable on 11 February 2025, and the natural or legal person that supplies the packaging to the natural or legal person that has the packaging designed or manufactured under its own name or trademark is located in the same Member State, “manufacturer” means the natural or legal person that supplies the packaging;’ Commission’s interpretation: A manufacturer is a natural or legal person who manufactures packaging or a packaged product. It is not necessarily the natural or legal person that physically produces the packaging. Two elements need to be considered: (1) the role in the design or manufacturing of packaging criterion and (2) the trademark or the branding criterion. If the packaging or packaged product carries a certain name or trademark, it can be assumed that the owner of that name or trademark is the ‘manufacturer’ pursuant to Article 3(1), point (13)(a), as it will have the decisive power in the contractual relation with its suppliers and will therefore be able to determine also the packaging characteristics. The wording of the definition of manufacturer indicates that there is always only one manufacturer in a supply chain within the meaning of the PPWR. As regards sales packaging (except service packaging (5)), or grouped packaging (6), the manufacturer is normally the economic operator that applies the final processing steps (e.g. cutting, filling, sealing) to the packaging supplied by converters (i.e. suppliers) and fills it with its product in order to then place the packaging or the packaged product on the Union market (Article 3(1), points (5)–(6)). In other words, for sales and grouped packaging, the manufacturer will normally be the filler, who is often also the product brand owner. As regards transport packaging (7), service packaging (in their final form), and primary production packaging (8) the manufacturer will normally be the company which manufactures the transport or service packaging, unless such packaging is clearly branded by the user of such packaging, by carrying its name or trademark (Article 3(1), points (1)(d) and (7)). In this case, the user is the manufacturer. Under the conditions set forth in Article 21, importers and distributors may be considered manufacturers for the purposes of this Regulation. This happens when they place on the market packaging under their own name or trademark or modify packaging already placed on the market in a way that could affect compliance with the relevant requirements of this Regulation. Pursuant to Article 15(1), ‘manufacturers shall only place on the market packaging which is in conformity with the requirements laid down in or pursuant to Articles 5 to 12.’ The conformity assessment procedure (Article 38) can be carried out by the manufacturer or by someone else on their behalf (e.g. a laboratory or a certification scheme), in accordance with Article 15(2). The EU declaration of conformity (Article 39) must be drafted by the manufacturer, based on the information and documentation provided by suppliers pursuant to Article 16(1), or by an authorised representative, appointed by the manufacturer by a written mandate pursuant to Article 17. This means that the manufacturer is the sole economic operator bearing legal responsibility for the packaging’s compliance with the sustainability and labelling requirements, regardless of who might have actually drafted the EU declaration of conformity or parts of it. However, if the company that has the packaging or packaged product designed or manufactured under its own name or trademark is a micro-enterprise, and the company supplying the packaging is located in the same Member State, then this supplier of the packaging is the manufacturer (Article 3(1), point (13)(b)). This is regardless of whether the latter company is also a micro-enterprise. For example, if a manufacturer of a packaging container is a micro-enterprise but the manufacturer of the packaged product is not, the exemption does not apply. If a manufacturer of a packaging container is not a micro-enterprise, while a manufacturer of a packaged product is, the exemption applies, and it is the manufacturer of the container which should be considered as ‘manufacturer’ for the purpose of the PPWR. According to Recommendation 2003/361/EC (9), a company is a micro-enterprise if it employs fewer than 10 persons, and its annual turnover or annual balance sheet total do not exceed 2 million EUR. A franchisee can be considered a micro-enterprise if the franchisor does not directly or indirectly own 25 % or more of its capital or voting rights and does not exercise control or decisive influence. If it does, then the relevant thresholds must be calculated by adding the franchisor’s corresponding data, as required by Articles 3(2) and 3(3) of the Recommendation 2003/361/EC. If the packaging does not bear a tradename or a brand name, then the ‘manufacturer’ could be either the supplier (i.e. the person who actually manufactures the packaging) or the person who places packaged products on the market. The decisive criterion is who places the order and decides on the design specifications for that packaging. The same approach explained above applies also for reusable packaging. The decisive criterion is who the natural or legal person who has the packaging designed or manufactured under its own name or trademark is. However, it is useful to clarify this further by putting it in the context of re-use systems. When packaging is designed following specific requirements of the manufacturers of the packaged product and carries their trademark, the latter (i.e. the users) are the ‘manufacturer’ of reusable packaging. This will be the case notably in open loop re-use systems (10). However, if a company, which has reusable packaging designed and manufactured under its name and trademark, is a micro-enterprise, and the company that manufactures the packaging is located in the same Member State, then the latter company is the manufacturer. This is regardless of whether the latter company is also a microenterprise. When reusable packaging is designed following specific requirements of a re-use system operator and carries its trademark, the re-use system operator is the ‘manufacturer’. This will be the case notably in closed loop re-use systems (11). When reusable packaging does not carry a specific trademark, the manufacturer of the packaging is the ‘manufacturer’, unless the user (i.e. the re-use system operator) can be identified as the one having ordered such packaging and its specific design.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07