Europen, the European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment, has called on the European Commission to “take urgent action to safeguard the internal market and fair competition objectives of the EU Packaging Directive” in the light of two studies conducted at the Commission’s request.
The studies (from Ecolas/Pira and Perchards, FFact Management, SAGIS), Europen says, indicate that while the Directive is meeting its key environmental objective, with over 60% of used packaging now diverted from landfill and the volume of packaging growth decoupled from GDP growth, it is failing to ensuring the proper functioning of the internal market and avoidance of distortions and restrictions of competition within the Community. In particular the studies reveal that member states have been “permitted to adopt national legislation targeting some types of packaging in a discriminatory way”. The Ecolas/Pira report concludes, based on lifecycle analyses and other studies, that “there is no environmental justification for the discriminatory measures being adopted”, since:
reusable packaging is best in some situations, single-trip in others;
results are highly context-dependent and case-specific, and
environmental differences between competing packaging systems are “often relatively small”.
Europen says the Commission needs particularly to ensure member states comply with EU Treaty requirements and decisions of the European Court of Justice as regards “discriminatory measures” linked to beverage packaging, arguing that it should open infringement procedures in respect of “the most blatant cases of unjustified discriminatory taxes and similar economic instruments discriminating between packaging materials and systems”.
The Brussels-based lobbying group adds that both studies indicate that “most member states” have failed to verify that packaging entering the market complies with the Directive’s Essential Requirements, designed to reduce packaging’s environmental impact and ensure only the minimum amount necessary. Europen md Julian Carroll says: “Europen calls on the Commission to encourage member states to enforce compliance with these requirements. No further packaging prevention measures should be considered until this legislation has been enforced and its effectiveness evaluated by all member states.”
