Last checked: 5 October 2026. This page is information, not legal advice. Always check the official text of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on EUR-Lex.
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), Regulation (EU) 2025/40, replaces the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive 94/62/EC. As a regulation, it applies directly in all EU member states, without national transposition.
Already happened
22 January 2025. Published in the Official Journal of the EU.
11 February 2025. Entered into force.
10 December 2025. The Commission proposed suspending the authorised representative obligation in Article 45(3) until 1 January 2035, as part of a simplification package (COM(2025) 982). This is a proposal; check its current status before relying on it.
10 June 2026. The Commission published its PPWR guidance document.
3 August 2026. The Commission published the second edition of its PPWR FAQ.
12 August 2026. General application. The application date was not postponed. From this date:
- PFAS limits apply to food-contact packaging: 25 ppb for any single PFAS, 250 ppb for the sum of PFAS, and 50 ppm total fluorine. According to the Commission, there is no sell-off period for PFAS-containing food-contact packaging made before this date.
- Packaging placed on the EU market needs an EU declaration of conformity and technical documentation.
- Substance restrictions and the bulk of the Regulation’s provisions apply.
Coming next
2028. Harmonised labelling for packaging is expected from around August 2028, depending on when the Commission’s implementing act is adopted. 12 February 2028 is the Commission’s deadline for the empty-space calculation methodology.
1 January 2030. The main structural deadline:
- Packaging must meet recyclability performance grades A, B or C.
- Minimum post-consumer recycled content in plastic packaging (see the table below).
- Maximum 50% empty-space ratio for grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging.
- Reuse targets apply.
- Restrictions on certain single-use packaging formats (Annex V).
2035. Packaging must be recyclable “at scale”.
2038. Grade C is no longer sufficient; packaging must reach grade A or B.
1 January 2040. Higher recycled content minimums apply.
Recycled content minimums for plastic packaging
| Packaging type | From 2030 | From 2040 |
|---|---|---|
| Contact-sensitive, PET as main component | 30% | 50% |
| Contact-sensitive, other plastics | 10% | 25% |
| Single-use plastic beverage bottles | 30% | 65% |
| All other plastic packaging | 35% | 65% |
Only post-consumer recycled content counts.
Dates that can move
Several PPWR dates are written as “1 January 2030, or a set period after the Commission adopts a related act, whichever is later”. Some of those acts are already late. So a date on this page can move later even though the Regulation itself hasn’t been amended. We update this page when that happens.