Does the PPWR Apply to My Product? A Scope Guide for Non-EU Manufacturers
On August 12, 2026, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (EU) 2025/40 starts applying across the entire EU market. From that date, only packaging that complies with the regulation can be placed on the market, and there is no grace period for stock already produced. For a non European manufacturer shipping products to Europe, the first question is deceptively simple: which parts of my product are actually “packaging” under this regulation?
The answer is less obvious than it sounds. Under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, a sticky label on an apple is packaging. A clothes hanger sold with a jacket is packaging. The same ceramic cup can be packaging in one store and an ordinary product in the store next door. The scope of the regulation follows a functional logic, and the European Commission has already clarified several of the borderline cases.
What Counts as Packaging Under the PPWR?
Article 3(1) of the PPWR defines packaging as any item, regardless of material, intended to be used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, or presentation of products.
That definition is a functional test. Nothing in it depends on what an item is called, what it looks like, or whether it resembles a cardboard box.
This changes how you should audit your product. Instead of scanning a list of things that look like packaging, you need to ask one question for every component that travels with your product: does it contain, protect, handle, deliver, or present the product? If the answer is yes, and the item is not an integral part of the product itself, it falls within the scope of the PPWR.
The regulation does include a list of examples in Annex I, covering items that are packaging and items that are not. The Commission’s guidance document C(2026) 2151, published in March 2026, is explicit on how to read that list: Annex I is indicative only.
Appearing on the list is not enough to classify an item as packaging, and absence from the list does not exclude an item. The functional definition in Article 3(1) always decides.
For a compliance team, this means the Annex I list works as a starting point, never as a final answer. Every borderline item in your shipment needs to be assessed against the functional test, and the Commission has already applied that test to a set of real cases worth knowing.
Are Labels and Tags on My Product Considered Packaging?
The case of labels is a useful practical example for understanding how the basic concepts of the PPWR work.
Recital 13 of the PPWR states that labels hung directly on or affixed to a product are packaging. That includes sticky labels on fruits and vegetables, hang tags on garments, and adhesive labels on hard goods. The reasoning follows the functional definition: these items PRESENT the product and are disposed of together with it, so they perform a packaging function.
Two exceptions clarify the boundary. A label sewn into a garment is an integral part of the product, so it falls outside the definition. The same applies to paints, inks, varnishes, and adhesives applied directly onto the product surface: they cannot be separated from the product and are excluded from the definition of packaging.
The practical consequence for a non-EU manufacturer is that your packaging inventory under the PPWR is longer than your packaging purchase orders. Hang tags, adhesive branding labels, and promotional stickers all count, and they all feed into the obligations the regulation attaches to packaging, from documentation to material restrictions.
Which Gray Zones Has the European Commission Already Clarified?
Since the regulation was adopted, the Commission has received a steady stream of scope questions from industry and national authorities. The guidance document C(2026) 2151 resolved several of them.
Tea and coffee capsules and bags are packaging, but their compostability obligations depend on the format. Permeable bags and soft single-serve units, the kind used for loose tea or filter coffee, must be industrially compostable by February 2028. Non-permeable capsules designed for machine use, the kind used in Nespresso-style systems, are not subject to that same EU-wide obligation, though individual member states can still require it on their own territory.
Dust bags for shoes and garments, the cloth pouches that ship with leather goods and footwear, are packaging when they are used for the containment, protection, delivery, or presentation of the product. They fall outside the definition only when they are integral to the product or sold separately as products in their own right.
Clothes hangersfollow the same logic. A hanger sold together with a garment performs a presentation and delivery function and counts as packaging. A hanger sold on its own is simply a product.
Reusable B2B packaging raised a different kind of question: who carries the obligations. For pooled crates, drums, and similar formats circulating between businesses, the guidance clarifies that the pool operator, or the operator who first makes the empty packaging available, takes on the producer role.
Adhesive process films used in manufacturing show the functional test working in the other direction. Films that enable the transformation of raw materials into finished products, and that remain on semi-finished goods as part of the production cycle, do not perform a packaging function and stay outside the scope.
Why Can the Same Item Be Packaging in One Context and Not Another?
The clearest illustration of the functional test comes from the Commission itself. The guidance document C(2026) 2151 uses the example of a beverage cup. Sold empty in a supermarket for private use, the cup is a product, and the PPWR does not apply to it. Filled with coffee at a refill station, the identical cup becomes packaging, specifically service packaging, because it now contains and delivers another product at the point of sale.
The guidance applies the same reasoning to flower and plant pots. A pot used by a nursery through the cultivation cycle is a production tool, and the PPWR treats it as an enabler of the manufacturing process. The final pot in which the plant is sold to the end user is packaging, because at that point it performs the delivery and presentation function.
For manufacturers, the lesson is that scope under the PPWR attaches to how an item is placed on the market, and
the same SKU can fall inside or outside the regulation depending on the commercial context.
A component you ship as a protective accessory may be packaging, while the identical component sold separately through your spare parts channel is not. Your scope assessment has to follow your sales channels, not just your bill of materials.
How Should a Non-EU Manufacturer Run a PPWR Scope Assessment?
The starting point is an inventory of everything that travels with your product into the EU: primary packaging, transport packaging, labels, tags, pouches, hangers, inserts, and protective elements. Each item then goes through the functional test of Article 3(1), with the Annex I list and the Commission guidance as interpretation support for borderline cases.
Items that qualify as packaging carry obligations from August 12, 2026: conformity with the sustainability requirements, technical documentation, a Declaration of Conformity, and substance restrictions, among others. Getting the scope right is the step that determines everything downstream, because an item you misclassify as non-packaging is an item with no documentation behind it when a market surveillance authority asks.
If you want a second pair of eyes on your packaging inventory before the August deadline, our team can review your product setup and map which items fall under the PPWR. You can request a quote and tell us what you ship to the EU.
