The EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR, Regulation (EU) 2025/40) has moved from "coming" to "in force." It entered into law on 11 February 2025, and its first wave of obligations became applicable on 12 August 2026 — directly, in every member state, with no national transposition needed.
What actually changed
Three concrete rules now apply: e-commerce parcels may not contain more than 40% empty space unless it's technically unavoidable; food-contact packaging is now subject to PFAS limits (25 ppb per substance, 250 ppb combined, 50 ppm total organic fluorine); and specific single-use formats — hospitality condiment sachets and mini toiletries, thin plastic wrap around small quantities of loose fruit and vegetables — are banned outright. Packaging placed on the market now also needs a conformity assessment and declaration of conformity, and a reuse system wherever reusable packaging is used.
The part that will catch importers off guard
PPWR borrows the exact structure familiar from REACH: under Article 45, a producer not established in the EU member state where its packaging first reaches users must appoint an authorised representative there, one per member state, to handle extended producer responsibility (EPR) registration, data reporting and fees. Where no representative is appointed, that duty falls on the EU importer placing the goods on the market — the same fallback position REACH puts an importer in when a non-EU chemical supplier has no only representative.
What's still ahead
12 August 2026 is a floor, not the finish line: harmonised labelling becomes fully applicable on 12 August 2028, and recycled-content and reuse targets phase in between 2027 and 2030.
What it means for you
If you ship e-commerce parcels into the EU, re-check void fill and box sizing against the 40% rule now. If you import packaged goods from a non-EU brand, confirm whether they've appointed an authorised representative in each EU country the goods reach — if not, the EPR registration and reporting duty is yours by default. Full background: PPWR: packaging & packaging waste.
Sources: European Commission — Packaging and packaging waste · EUR-Lex — Regulation (EU) 2025/40.