Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 22 January 2025. As the Commission points out in its call for contributions, it establishes harmonised rules for the whole life cycle of packaging, including requirements for a minimum amount of recycled plastic in relevant packaging placed on the EU market.

The three consultations launched on 14 August relate to the detailed rules needed to make those requirements on recycled content workable, verifiable and enforceable.
Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 empowers the Commission to adopt, by 31 December 2026, two implementing acts and one delegated act on the calculation and verification of plastic recycled content, on sustainability criteria for recycling technologies, and to establish the conditions for importing plastic recyclates or articles with incorporated plastic recycled content from third (non-EU) countries.

According to the Commission, theses acts are expected to support legal certainty, consistent enforcement, reliable claims about recycled content, demand for high-quality recycled plastics, and a level playing field for packaging placed on the single market.
They should also help ensure that recycled content that is counted towards relevant targets is linked to recycling carried out under …