What must a cosmetics brand prove about its packaging under the EU PPWR, and from when?

Most PPWR duties fall on the “manufacturer”. Where packaging or a packaged product is designed or manufactured under a person’s own name or trademark, that person is the manufacturer, whatever other trademark is visible (Article 3(1), point 13(a)).

For a cosmetics brand, this means the brand is the manufacturer of its bottles, jars, tubes and cartons, not the factory that moulds them. The Commission’s FAQ confirms this holds when the brand simply chooses a standard packaging option without changing its design.

There is one exception. If the brand is a micro-enterprise (fewer than 10 staff and an annual turnover or balance sheet of EUR 2 million or less) and its packaging supplier is in the same Member State, the supplier is the manufacturer (Article 3(1), point 13(b)). For the duties in Article 15 (conformity assessment, technical documentation, declaration of conformity, identification), the supplier is treated as the manufacturer wherever it is located in the Union (Article 15(12)).

Other roles carry their own duties:

The procedure is Module A, internal production control: the manufacturer assesses its own packaging, with no notified body (Article 38 and Annex VII). A laboratory or consultant can do the work, but legal responsibility stays with the manufacturer.

The Commission’s FAQ says one declaration may cover several sizes when size affects none of the requirements. The declaration is drawn up for each packaging type and kept with the technical documentation (Annex VII, point 4, Article 39 and Annex VIII). The documentation goes to the authorities within 10 days of a request (Article 15(10)).

Some content follows later dates. The Commission’s guidance states that Article 6(1) has applied since 12 August 2026: until the design-for-recycling rules apply, packaging must meet the previous Directive’s requirements (for example standard EN 13430:2004), and the formal PPWR conformity assessment for recyclability is only needed once the delegated act enters into force. Until 31 December 2029, minimisation is assessed under the previous Directive, using standard EN 13428:2004.

The technical documentation covers the whole packaging unit, for example bottle, closure and label together (Annex VII, point 2, and Commission FAQ). It includes:

From 1 January 2030, according to the Commission’s reading of Article 70(1)(b), packaging with features that aim only to increase the perceived volume of the product, “including double walls, false bottoms and unnecessary layers”, may not be placed on the market (Article 10(2)). Weight and volume must also be reduced to the minimum needed for the packaging’s function (Article 10(1)).

The Commission’s FAQ uses a cosmetics example: a 50 ml face-cream jar with a double wall, a false bottom or an oversized carton that makes the content look larger. The operator must prove, with tests in the technical documentation, that such features are used only where the packaging function cannot be ensured otherwise or where they add a legitimate function.

Annex IV lists the functions that can justify weight and volume, including presentation for gifts or seasonal events. Recital 60 adds that marketing and consumer acceptance cannot justify extra packaging on their own.

A narrow exception covers packaging whose design is protected by a Community design or national design rights, or whose shape is a trademark, if that protection existed before 11 February 2025 and compliance would alter the design’s novelty or individual character, or stop the trademark from distinguishing the product (Article 10(2)(a)). The evidence goes in the technical documentation.

Empty space is handled separately. By 12 February 2028, empty space in sales packaging, such as a carton around a jar, must be reduced to the minimum necessary, with no numeric limit (Article 24(4)).

The 50 % empty space cap (from 1 January 2030, or 3 years after the calculation implementing act if later) applies only to grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging, such as shipping boxes; paper fill and air cushions count as empty space (Article 24(1) and (3)). A cosmetic carton shipped as is, with only a delivery label, is exempt from the cap but not from Article 10 (Article 24(5)).

The Commission must assess by 12 February 2032 whether to set empty space ratios for sales packaging, naming cosmetics among the products to examine (Article 24(6)).

All packaging must be recyclable (Article 6(1)). From 1 January 2030, or 24 months after the design-for-recycling delegated act if later, packaging must reach grade A, B or C. Grades are set by a design-for-recycling score: A at 95 % or more, B at 80 %, C at 70 %. From 1 January 2038, only grades A and B are allowed (Article 6(3) and Annex II).

Integrated components such as caps, pumps and droppers are assessed with the unit, and no component may hinder the recyclability of the main body (Article 6(9)). Annex II lists glass cosmetics pots and PET, PE and PP bottles, jars and tubes among the packaging categories.

Sales packaging made of lightweight wood, cork, textile, rubber, ceramic, porcelain or wax is exempt from the recyclability requirement (Article 6(11)(g)). There is no other cosmetics exemption.

A claim on recycled content or recyclability is allowed only if it goes beyond the legal minimum (Article 14). Adhesives, paints and inks are not plastic for recycled content purposes (Commission FAQ).

The cosmetic container and its closure are “contact-sensitive packaging”, because the definition names the Cosmetics Regulation (Article 3(1), point 49). Their plastic parts therefore follow the lower recycled content targets:

Packaging will carry an EU label of pictograms showing its material composition, to help consumers sort it. E-commerce packaging is covered; transport packaging is not (Article 12(1)).

The duty starts on 12 August 2028 or 24 months after the implementing acts on the label (Article 12(6)) or on digital marking of material composition (Article 12(7)), whichever is later. That act was due by 12 August 2026 but was only at the planning stage in October 2026, so the label will become mandatory after 12 August 2028.

The label must also be available to consumers online before purchase. Where a pack is too small, it can go on the grouped packaging or, failing that, behind a single electronically readable code (Article 12(5)). This matters for samples and miniatures.

The Commission’s guidance states that the EU label is exhaustive: Member States will not be able to keep national sorting labels next to it once it applies. Decision 97/129/EC on material identification codes is repealed from 12 August 2028 (Article 70(2)); the guidance states that its abbreviations may no longer be used after that date.

A recycled-content label stays voluntary, but once Article 12(4) applies (12 August 2028 or 24 months after the labelling act, whichever is later), it must follow the EU format.

Stock manufactured or imported before the label applies may be made available for 3 more years (Article 12(12)).

Several widely quoted PPWR rules do not apply to cosmetic packaging: