Commonly got wrong

“None of it really applies yet, because the European Commission has not finished the details.”

Why this one goes around

It is half true, which is the hardest kind of wrong to correct. Several duties genuinely cannot start until the Commission adopts something, and it has not. But a duty is only later than the start date where its own wording says so, and the ones that say nothing started immediately.

The rules that settle it

• Double walls, false bottoms and packaging that looks bigger than it is

  Applies now

  Packaging built only to look bigger than it needs to be cannot be put on the market. The rules name double walls, false bottoms and unnecessary layers, and also set performance criteria packaging has to meet. This one has no later start date of its own, so it started with the rest of the rules on 12 August 2026. Two narrow exceptions exist. One covers a design or shape trademark protected before 11 February 2025, where meeting the rule would spoil what makes it distinctive. The other covers products with a protected geographical indication or under an EU quality scheme.

  Source: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Art. 10(2), read with Art. 71 — read from this source on 12 August 2026

• The declaration of conformity, and who has to write one

  Applies now

  Anyone counting as the manufacturer of packaging writes a short document saying the packaging meets the design rules. It is called an EU declaration of conformity. The rules fix what goes in it and set out a model to follow. It has to be kept up to date, and written in a language the country where the packaging is sold asks for. Signing it means taking responsibility for what it says.

  Source: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Art. 39 — read from this source on 12 August 2026

• Checking packaging against the design rules

  Applies now

  Before the declaration can be written, the packaging has to be checked against the design rules. The rules set out the procedure to follow for that check. Somebody else can carry out the check, such as a laboratory, but the business named as manufacturer still carries the responsibility.

  Source: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Art. 38 — read from this source on 12 August 2026

• Recycled content in plastic packaging

  No start date yet

  Plastic parts of packaging will have to contain a minimum share of recycled material recovered from plastic waste, worked out as an average per plant per year. The share differs by packaging type. This starts on 1 January 2030 or three years after the European Commission's method for calculating it takes effect, whichever comes later. That method does not exist yet, so the start date cannot be fixed.

  Source: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Art. 7(1) — read from this source on 12 August 2026

Work out which of these apply to you · Other things people get told