§5 Enforcement of PFAS restrictions in food contact packaging and exhaustion of stocks

Legal provisions Article 3(1), point (13), defines ‘manufacturer’ as ‘a natural or legal person’ that ‘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 (…).’ Article 3(1), point (10), defines ‘placing on the market’ ‘as the first making available of packaging, whether empty or with a product, on the Union market’. Article 3(1), point (11), defines ‘making available on the territory of the Member State’ as ‘any supply of packaging, whether empty or with a product, for distribution, consumption or use (…) whether in return for payment or free of charge.’ Article 5(5) states: ‘From 12 August 2026, food-contact packaging shall not be placed on the market if it contains per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in a concentration equal to or above the following limit values to the extent that the placing on the market of packaging containing such a concentration of PFAS is not prohibited pursuant to another Union legal act: (a) 25 ppb for any PFAS as measured with targeted PFAS analysis (polymeric PFAS excluded from quantification); (b) 250 ppb for the sum of PFAS measured as the sum of targeted PFAS analysis, where applicable with prior degradation of precursors (polymeric PFAS excluded from quantification); and (c) 50 ppm for PFASs (including polymeric PFAS); if total fluorine exceeds 50 mg/kg the manufacturer, importer or downstream user as defined respectively in Article 3, points (9), (11) and (13) of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 shall, upon request, provide to the manufacturer or the importer as defined respectively in Article 3(1), points (13) and (17), of this Regulation proof of the quantity of fluorine measured as content of either PFAS or non-PFAS in order for them to draw up the technical documentation as referred to in Annex VII to this Regulation.’ Commission’s interpretation: Food contact packaging is packaging which is intended to be brought into contact with food or is already in contact with food and was intended for that purpose, as per the scope of EU food legislation. The surveillance authorities as referred to in PPWR, based on Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance rules, are competent to verify compliance with the PFAS limits. Several protocols and methodologies to test the presence of PFAS in different matrices exist, but there is no harmonised methodology for PFAS in food contact packaging at EU level. In this context, the following stepwise approach, based on state-of-the-art analytical capacities and a meta-analysis of PFAS testing of the relevant matrices, is recommended to enforce the PFAS limits as of their application date, i.e. 12 August 2026: (1) Total Fluorine (TF) quantification (step 1): If TF is below 50 mg/kg (16), sample could be considered compliant. (2) If TF is above 50 mg/kg, methods such as pyrolysis-GC/MS can be used to confirm whether the fluorine is organic (PFAS) or inorganic in step 2. If the organic fluorine is below 50 mg/kg, the sample could be considered compliant. (3) Direct TOP (total oxidizable precursors) analysis is recommended to check compliance with the 25 μg/kg (17) and 250 μg/kg concentration limit in step 3. On the basis of the evidence currently available to the Commission, all samples compliant with test (1) are also compliant with tests (2) and (3). This is without prejudice to the application of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 to the controls performed for the verification of compliance with the rules on materials and articles intended to come into contact with food, including the rules laid down in Article 5(5) of the PPWR. As regards packaging containing PFAS, which has been produced before 12 August 2026, the PPWR does not foresee a transitional period for the exhaustion of stocks. Therefore, food-contact packaging placed on the market after 12 August 2026 must comply with the PFAS limits laid down in this Regulation, while packaging placed on the market before 12 August 2026 may remain on the market and does not need to be withdrawn. There are no exceptions regarding packaging containing recycled material. In general, sales and grouped food-contact packaging are placed on the market when they are filled, insofar as the final processing steps such as the sealing processes, may influence compliance of the packaging, while transport and service packaging are placed on the market empty. In line with the Blue Guide on the implementation of EU product rules (18), placing on the market occurs when there is an offer or an agreement between parties regarding ‘the transfer of ownership, possession or any other property right’. This can be done ‘for payment or free of charge’ once a manufacturing stage of the product is completed. Consequently, a manufacturer could place empty or filled food-contact packaging on the market by a mere transfer of the legal possession. For imported packaging or packaged products, the relevant timestamp is the ‘release for free circulation’ at the end of the customs procedure.

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