PPWR deadline timeline
Every confirmed date in Regulation (EU) 2025/40, what it demands, and the Swedish deadlines that sit alongside them.
Most companies know one date, 12 August 2026, and stop there. The harder requirements land in 2030 and need design and sourcing decisions years earlier. A packaging redesign takes twelve to eighteen months from decision to first shipment, so an item that will not meet the 2030 thresholds needs a decision in 2027.
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11 Feb 2025
In force
Regulation (EU) 2025/40 enters into force, repealing Directive 94/62/EC.
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12 Aug 2026
General application
The regulation applies directly in all 27 member states. The authorised representative obligation, conformity assessment, EU declaration of conformity, technical documentation, substances-of-concern limits and PFAS restrictions in food-contact packaging all take effect. Sweden's producer definition is replaced by the EU definition on this date.
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31 Mar 2027
Sweden: transitional reporting
Volumes for 1 January to 11 August 2026 are reported under the old Swedish producer definition, and volumes for 12 August to 31 December 2026 under the new EU definition. Both are due on the same date.
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12 Feb 2028
Compostability and empty space
Compostability requirements apply to listed formats including tea and coffee bags, single-serve units and very lightweight carrier bags. The delegated act on measuring empty space is due.
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12 Aug 2028
Harmonised labelling
Material composition labelling becomes mandatory, with a data carrier such as a QR code for certain categories. Packaging already on the market before this date may continue to be sold.
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12 Feb 2029
Reusable packaging labels
Labelling requirements extend to reusable packaging, including QR codes.
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1 Jan 2030
Design requirements apply
More obligations start on this date than any other in the regulation. Design-for-recycling grades apply and only grades A, B and C may be placed on the market. Minimum recycled content thresholds for plastic packaging begin. Empty space limits, packaging minimisation and single-use restrictions all start on the same date.
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1 Jan 2035
Recyclable at scale
Recyclability grading shifts to combine design-for-recycling criteria with an assessment of whether the material is actually recycled at scale.
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1 Jan 2038
Grades A and B only
Grade C packaging is phased out.
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1 Jan 2040
Higher recycled content
Recycled content thresholds for plastic packaging increase.
Why the dates hold even though the detail does not exist yet
Around thirty delegated and implementing acts are expected to define the technical detail: the harmonised labelling format, design-for-recycling criteria, recycled content calculation, the empty space methodology, and registration and reporting formats. As of mid-2026 almost none had been adopted.
That does not move the deadlines. Waiting for each piece of secondary legislation before acting means missing the underlying date, which stands whether or not the detail arrived on time. Grades and assessments made now are provisional, and they are still the basis on which decisions have to be taken.
Keep the evidence from the start
Technical documentation and declarations must be kept for five years for single-use packaging and ten years for reusable packaging. The record you create for a 2026 declaration is the record an authority will open in 2031. It is far cheaper to build it properly once than to reconstruct it under an enforcement deadline.
Which of these actually apply to your packaging?
A packaging audit maps your portfolio against each requirement and returns a dated action list, sequenced backwards from the deadlines.