A legal assessment published today shows that the special rules for plastic packaging and exemptions for other packaging materials discussed as part of the planned EU Packaging Regulation (PPWR) are very likely not compatible with EU law. According to the report, provisions that, for example, only prohibit plastic packaging require it to be reused or exempt coated paper packaging from the recycled content quotes, very likely violate the principle of equal treatment because there are no objective reasons for such unequal treatment. The legal experts also criticise procedural infringements because the Parliament and Council have not taken all relevant factors into account in their proposals. In a joint appeal, the associations EuPC, IK and Elipso, which commissioned the legal assessment, call on the Member States and the European Parliament to remove the material-specific special rules in the ongoing trilogue negotiations in order to create legal and planning certainty for companies.
