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A new EU regulation is about to change how goods are packaged for the European market. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR, Regulation (EU) 2025/40) starts to apply on 12 August 2026. It reaches every business that puts packaging on the EU market, whatever is inside the box and wherever the company is based. If you import into the EU, you are in scope.
Here is the plain version: what it is, the dates that matter, and what to do before they arrive.
Want the official detail? The European Commission published guidance and a set of FAQs on 30 March 2026. It is thorough rather than light reading, which is why we wrote this page.
PPWR replaces the old packaging directive with a single, directly binding regulation. That means the same rules across all member states, instead of 27 national versions. For importers who ship into more than one country, that is a rare simplification. The trade-off is that the requirements are stricter, and the responsibility sits with whoever places the packaging on the market, importers included.
This is the point most often misread. PPWR is not a food regulation. It is a packaging regulation, and it applies to packaging in every material: plastic, paper, glass, metal and wood.
It binds importers, manufacturers, distributors, online marketplaces and fulfilment providers. Company size makes no difference, and neither does what you ship. A pallet of televisions is in scope in the same way as a pallet of bananas.
Some requirements are specific to packaging that touches food, such as the PFAS limits. Most are not.
Most of what moves into Europe is not food, and PPWR still applies to it. Three things matter most.
Transport packaging. From 2030, 40% of transport packaging used between businesses across borders has to be reusable. That means pallets, crates, drums and intermediate bulk containers. Within one company, or between partner companies, the target is 100%. Pallet wrapping film and straps were formally exempted from that 100% target in February 2026.
E-commerce packaging. From 12 August, a box may not be more than 40% empty space. If you ship consumer goods direct to buyers, this is the requirement that bites first.
Recyclability and recycled content. From 2030 packaging has to be recyclable, and plastic packaging has to contain a minimum share of recycled material. This applies whatever is inside.
If your packaging touches food, one extra set of rules applies on top of everything above: limits on PFAS and on heavy metals, from 12 August.
This is not only a fresh-produce matter. It covers rice, grains, dried fruit, spices and nuts just as much as a punnet of berries. If the packaging is in contact with the product, it is in scope.
From 2030, small plastic packaging for loose fruit and vegetables is banned. That means nets, bags, trays and punnets under 1.5 kg, for produce that has not been processed.
There are exceptions, but only where you can show the packaging is genuinely needed. For example, to stop the produce drying out, to keep bacteria out, to prevent bruising, to stop it going off, or to keep organic and non-organic apart.
The catch is timing. The Commission only publishes the list of packaging that stays allowed in February 2027. So you know the rule, but not yet the fine print. Member states can add exceptions of their own, and Italy has already drafted a bill to allow certified compostable packaging.
Our advice: assume the ban applies to your product. Build a case for an exception only where you can genuinely prove the need.
Germany is not simply following the EU here. It is rewriting its own packaging law to match, and the timing lines up exactly.
The German implementation act, the VerpackDG, passed the Bundesrat on 6 July and was published on 17 July 2026. It takes effect alongside PPWR on 12 August. Registration in the LUCID register with the ZSVR carries on as before. Source: Verpackungsgesetz.com.
One change matters if you buy from outside the EU. From 12 August, producers based outside the EU need an authorised representative in Germany. If your supplier at origin packs the goods, ask them about it this month, not next year.
German buyers and retailers already treat packaging compliance as a real cost and a real filter. Expect the subject to come up earlier in a German conversation than in a Dutch or Belgian one.
The importers who move early get to choose their packaging on their own terms. The ones who wait will have it chosen for them.
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