PPWR product conformity: the declaration, the technical file, and who signs them

Most PPWR coverage, including ours, has concentrated on Article 45 and the authorized representative, because that is the obligation that decides whether a foreign producer can sell into France at all. But the Regulation has a second half that landed on the same date and gets far less attention: product conformity. Since 12 August 2026, packaging placed on the EU market has to be conforme in the CE-marking sense of the word, with an assessment, a declaration, a file and an identification mark.

This article covers that half. It is deliberately not about EPR: no eco-organism, no IDU, no declarations of tonnage. It is about the paperwork that has to exist behind each packaging you place on the market, who has to produce it, and what still runs on the old Directive 94/62/EC regime until 2030.

The one distinction that decides who does what#

PPWR uses two words that sound interchangeable in ordinary speech and are not:

• The manufacturer is the entity that manufactures a packaging, or has it designed or manufactured under its own name or trademark. This is the conformity role. It carries Articles 15, 38 and 39.
• The producer is the EPR role, assessed per Member State: the entity first making the packaged product available on that national market. This is the role our mandate covers in France, and the one Article 45 is about.

The same company can hold both roles, and a brand that has its packaging made to its own specification by a converter is usually a manufacturer even though it never operated a machine. But the two sets of obligations do not travel together. An EPR authorized representative does not produce your declarations of conformity, and an eco-organism membership proves nothing about product conformity. If you buy packaging from suppliers, the declarations you need are the ones your suppliers must hand you.

A third role matters at the border: the importer, the entity established in the Union that places packaging from a third country on the EU market. It does not draw up the conformity paperwork, but it must verify that it exists before anything is placed on the market, and keep a copy.

What applies since 12 August 2026#

The conformity assessment (Article 38, Annex VII)#

Every packaging placed on the market needs a conformity assessment. The procedure is set out in Annex VII and follows internal production control, the classic Module A: no notified body in the standard case. The manufacturer runs the assessment itself, compiles the technical documentation and bears the legal responsibility for the conclusion. That is lighter than a third-party certification regime, and heavier than it looks, because there is no external gatekeeper to catch an error before an inspector does.

The EU declaration of conformity (Article 39, Annex VIII)#

Where the assessment shows the packaging complies, the manufacturer draws up an EU declaration of conformity to the model set out in Annex VIII. It declares conformity with the sustainability requirements of Articles 5 to 12, identifies the packaging, and is signed by the manufacturer, who assumes responsibility by signing.

One declaration can cover several packaging items where they share the relevant characteristics, which is how a converter's catalogue is normally handled. A brand placing dozens of references on the market should expect a set of declarations from its suppliers, not one universal certificate.

The technical documentation (Annex VII), 5 years, 10 for reusable#

Behind the declaration sits the technical documentation described in Annex VII: the description of the packaging, its intended use, the design and manufacturing information, and the evidence that each applicable requirement is met. It is not filed with any authority. It is kept and produced on request.

The retention periods are the ones to write into a document-management policy now:

Identification and contact details (Article 15)#

Packaging must carry a type, batch or serial number, or another element allowing it to be identified. It must also carry the manufacturer's name, registered trade name or trademark, and postal address, plus an electronic means of contact where available. Where an importer is involved, the importer's own identification and address are required too.

The information can sit on the packaging itself or be carried by a QR code or other digital data carrier. For importers specifically, where it genuinely cannot be placed on the packaging, an accompanying document is accepted. In practice this is an artwork question, and artwork cycles are slow: brands that have not yet planned the change should treat it as a live gap rather than a 2027 project.

Verification by the importer (Article 18)#

Before placing packaging on the market, the importer must ensure that the manufacturer has carried out the conformity assessment, drawn up the technical documentation, labelled the packaging correctly and met the identification requirements. The importer then keeps a copy of the declaration and presents documentation to authorities on request.

This is the clause that converts a foreign supplier's paperwork gap into an EU company's legal problem, which is why purchasing conditions across the single market are being rewritten to demand the declaration as a delivery condition.

Substances of concern (Article 5)#

Article 5 restricts substances of concern in packaging. Two limits matter operationally from day one: the sum of concentrations of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium may not exceed 100 mg/kg, and food-contact packaging containing PFAS at or above the set thresholds may no longer be placed on the market. The PFAS restriction is the one that has forced reformulation in food-service and fast-food packaging, where fluorinated grease barriers were standard.

Reusable packaging (Article 11)#

Packaging placed on the market as reusable must meet the requirements of Article 11 since 12 August 2026: conceived and designed to be reused several times, compliant with health, safety and hygiene requirements, able to be emptied, reconditioned and refilled without risk, and recyclable at end of life. These follow on from the requirements already carried by Directive 94/62/EC and the standard EN 13429:2004.

The minimum number of rotations is not part of this yet. It depends on a delegated act the Commission must adopt by 12 February 2027, covering the formats most used in reuse and taking hygiene and logistics into account. Claiming a packaging is reusable therefore still rests on the qualitative criteria, not on a numeric threshold.

What still runs on the old regime until 2030#

This is where several published summaries go wrong, and it is worth being precise, because planning on the wrong date is expensive in both directions.

Recyclability and minimisation are requirements today, but not yet PPWR-assessed. Until the PPWR design-for-recycling machinery applies, manufacturers demonstrate them against the essential requirements inherited from Directive 94/62/EC and the harmonised standards written for those requirements: EN 13430:2004 for packaging recoverable by material recycling, EN 13428:2004 for minimisation, and EN 13429:2004 for reuse.

The PPWR does change the substance of the minimisation test, and the Commission guidance is explicit about the direction: consumer acceptance and marketing are removed as justifications for extra weight or volume, while recyclability, recycled content and reuse are added as criteria. The Commission must ask CEN to update the standard by 12 February 2027, and the recyclability grading applies from 1 January 2030, or 24 months after the design-for-recycling delegated acts if that is later.

What is not applicable yet#

One earlier date does deserve a diary entry: from 12 February 2027, on-pack marks identifying membership of an EPR scheme, the Green Dot being the obvious case, may only be displayed by digital means.

How this connects to French EPR#

For a producer selling into France, the two layers now run in parallel and neither absorbs the other.

The EPR layer is French: registration through ADEME, the IDU, membership of an eco-organism for household packaging and, from 1 January 2027, for professional packaging, then the annual declarations. Where the producer has no establishment in France, Article L. 541-10-9-1 of the Code de l'environnement has made the appointment of a mandataire compulsory since 10 July 2026, and that mandataire is subrogated into the obligations it accepts.

The conformity layer is European and follows the packaging itself, wherever it was made. It is the layer that produces the declaration your French customer, your marketplace or a DGCCRF inspector can ask to see.

A practical consequence for foreign brands: your French EPR file being in order says nothing about your conformity file, and vice versa. Two separate document sets, two separate owners, one shared inspection risk.

A practical starting checklist#

1. Map your packaging by type: transport, grouped, sales, service and primary production packaging. The obligations attach per packaging, not per product line.
2. Determine your role for each item: manufacturer, including where you have packaging made to your own specification under your brand, importer, distributor, or several at once.
3. Ask every supplier for the EU declaration of conformity and confirm which packaging references each one covers. Make it a purchase-order condition rather than an annual audit item.
4. Check identification on artwork: type, batch or serial element, name and postal address, electronic contact, and the importer's details where relevant. Decide now between on-pack text and a digital data carrier.
5. Verify substances of concern, in particular PFAS in any food-contact reference and the 100 mg/kg heavy-metal sum.
6. Set the retention policy: 5 years, 10 for reusable, for both the technical documentation and the declaration.
7. Keep the EPR file separate and current: registration, IDU, eco-organism membership and declarations for the French streams that apply to you.

Where we fit, and where we do not#

We are a French EPR authorized representative. We take on the extended producer responsibility obligations of producers with no establishment in France: eco-organism membership, the IDU through ADEME, and the declarations, for the French streams in the mandate. That is the Article 45 side of the PPWR, and the French side of it.

We do not draw up declarations of conformity, we do not run conformity assessments and we do not certify packaging design. If your gap is on the conformity side, the counterparties to press are your packaging suppliers and, where applicable, your importer of record. If your gap is on the EPR side, that is our work, and the diagnostic is written.

Sources and references#

Article numbers and dates verified against Regulation (EU) 2025/40 and the Commission guidance and FAQ, corroborated by specialist secondary sources. Act-dependent dates move with the acts. This article is not legal advice. Verified 18 August 2026.

• Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR), EUR-Lex
• Commission Notice, guidance document for Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (C/2026/3084), EUR-Lex
• European Commission, guidance document on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation
• European Commission, packaging waste policy page
• Latham & Watkins, PPWR summary of provisions and new guidance
• Ropes & Gray, Commission publishes guidance and FAQs on the PPWR
• Keller & Heckman, DG ENV FAQ on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation
• Packaging Europe, a closer look at the latest PPWR guidance
• Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste (consolidated), EUR-Lex