Regulation (EU) 2025/40 · in application Repealed Directive 94/62/EC — 12 Aug 2026 Last reviewed 2026-08-16
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Regulatory intelligence

The regulation is written. The detail is still being decided.

Implementing acts, delegated acts, harmonised standards and national measures will change what compliance actually means. We track them, date them, and mark what moved.

Commission · EUR-Lex · CEN · Member States
Entries this quarter
11
Open consultations
2
Acts still pending
3
Text changes logged
1
Last swept
2026-08-16
Tabulated regulation working document with marked-up annexes and packaging samples
Editorial photograph — Commission working document on a desk with packaging samples and marked-up annexes. Available light, top-down.
Lead story
Consultation open — closes 2026-09-18

Draft delegated act on design-for-recycling criteria opens for feedback

The first draft sets category-level grading for plastics and fibre-based packaging. Two provisions would change how multilayer laminates are scored — worth reading before you re-spec a laminate, because the grading it establishes is what the 2030 market floor will be measured against.

Our reading: the fibre-based categories are close to settled, the flexible-plastics categories are not. If your portfolio is mostly flexibles, this consultation is the one to respond to.

Read the analysis

The wire

Everything we logged, newest first.

Adopted text, drafts, guidance and national measures are kept apart on purpose. A draft is not a rule, and we never present it as one.

Source
Status
11 of 11 entries
2026-08-11
Brussels
Commission publishes updated FAQ on packaging minimisation (Art. 10) Clarifies how the Annex IV performance criteria should be argued, and states explicitly that marketing-driven layers are not a defensible justification. European CommissionGuidanceArt. 10
2026-08-04
Brussels
Draft delegated act on design-for-recycling criteria opens for feedback Category-level grading for plastics and fibre-based packaging. Consultation closes 18 September 2026. European CommissionConsultationArt. 6
2026-07-29
CEN/TC 261
Standardisation request accepted for recyclability assessment methods Work item opened. Once cited in the Official Journal it will confer presumption of conformity for the Article 6 assessment. StandardsIn developmentArt. 6
2026-07-14
EUR-Lex
Corrigendum to Regulation (EU) 2025/40 — Annex V format definitions Narrows two of the single-use plastic prohibitions. Affects grouped multipack films in particular; our Annex V entries were revised the same week. EUR-LexText changeAnnex V
2026-06-30
Germany
BMUV consults on aligning VerpackG with PPWR reporting duties National reporting would move onto the PPWR framework from 2027. Adds duties in one market only; relevant if you register packaging in Germany. Member StateConsultation
2026-06-05
Brussels
Implementing act on labelling pictograms slips to Q1 2027 The harmonised marks for Article 12. The 12 August 2028 application date has not moved, so the artwork window narrows by roughly two quarters. European CommissionDelayedArt. 12
2026-05-22
CEN
EN 15343 cited for recycled-content traceability Gives a defensible route for verifying Article 7 claims through chain of custody rather than analysis alone. StandardsPublishedArt. 7
2026-04-18
Brussels
Q&A on importer and distributor verification duties Confirms that importers must hold or be able to obtain the manufacturer’s technical file before the first shipment, not on request afterwards. European CommissionGuidanceArt. 38
2026-03-27
France
France confirms its deposit return scope ahead of the 2029 date Container types and marking obligations published early, giving beverage producers a two-year artwork runway rather than one. Member StateAdopted
2026-02-11
Brussels
Recycled-content calculation act still unscheduled Without it, chemical recycling and mass-balance accounting cannot be relied on for Article 7. Anyone planning around chemically recycled content is planning on an assumption. European CommissionNot adoptedArt. 7
2025-02-11
EUR-Lex
Regulation (EU) 2025/40 enters into force The starting gun. Eighteen-month transition before the framework applies on 12 August 2026. EUR-LexAdopted

Sample entries for the prototype. In production the wire is generated from tracked sources and each entry carries its own evidence block.

Monthly briefing

One email a month, and only when something moved.

What was adopted, what slipped, what opened for consultation, and what it changes for packaging decisions. No newsletter filler.

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