Overview
- The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation began practical application on 12 August 2026 and its numeric PFAS limits for food-contact packaging are already binding.
- The law reallocates legal responsibilities across supply chains so manufacturers, importers, packagers and sellers must register, carry out conformity assessments, keep technical documentation and issue EU conformity declarations.
- Within days some small businesses reported pausing shipments to other EU countries because per-country registration fees and the need for local representatives pushed compliance costs above several hundred euros per market.
- Brussels has told member states it will seek technical adjustments to reduce cross-border friction and encouraged restrained enforcement while Germany drafts national implementing rules to align its law with the PPWR.
- Most consumer-facing changes are phased in from 2027 through 2030 and the regulation sets waste-reduction targets for 2030 and beyond even as environmental groups praise the PFAS limits but argue the law focuses too much on recycling rather than reuse and prevention.