ICS. 55.020  
A 80  
 
GB 
 
National Standards of the People’s Republic of China  
 
GB XXXX  - 2007   
 
 
 
 
 
General Rules for  Restricting Excessive Packaging for Commodities  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Issue Date: XXXX – XX -XX             Implementation Date: XXXX –XX -XX 
 
 
Issued by General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and 
Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China  and Standard  Administration of 
the People’s Republic of China     
 
Preface  
 
Article 5.1 of this standard is mandatory while the rest are recommend ed.  
 
Appendix A and Appendix B to this standard are specification appendi ces, while  
Appendix  C is an information appendix.  
 
This standard was proposed by China Standard Administration . 
 
This standard is under the jurisdiction of the Natio nal Packa ging Standardi sation 
Technical  Committee.  
 
The main d rafting organi sations  of this standard  included  the China Standardi sation 
Research Institute, China Packaging Federation, Machinery Science Research 
Institute, China Packging Science Research Test Centre , China Export Packaging 
Research Institute, China National Research Institue of Food & Fermention Industries 
and Shiseido Li yuan Cosmetics Co. Ltd.  
 
The main drafters of this standard were  Yang Yiaoxiang, Tang Wanjin, Wang Li, 
Huang Xue, Xian Kuitung, Niu  Shumei, Wang Yuande and Chen Yan.  
 
 
    
 
General Rules for  Restricting Excessive Packaging for Commodities  
 
1 Scope  
 
This standard sets the requirements for restricting  excessive packag ing for 
commodities and the limit requirements and calculation methods for the sales 
packag ing of certain  commodities.  
 
This standard  applies  to commodities sold on the  market.  
 
2 Normative References  
 
The provisions of the following documents become provisions of this Standard after 
being referenced.  For dated reference documents , all later amendments (excluding 
corrigenda) and versions do not apply to this Standard; however, any parties that 
come to an agreement under this standard are encouraged to consider adopting the 
latest versions of these document . For undated reference do cuments, the latest 
versions apply to this Standard.  
 
GB/T 4122.1  Packaging terms  - Basic terms  
 
GB/T 17204  Classification of Alcoholic Beverages  
 
3 Terms and Definitions  
 
The following terms and definitions defined in GB/T 4122.1 and GB/T 17204 are 
applicab le to this standard.  
 
3.1 Excessive Packag ing 
Packaging that  exceed s the needs of the functionalities of normal packaging 
and that is  excessive of the required packaging interspace ratio,  number of 
layer s and cost . 
 
3.2 Original Packag e 
Packaging  in direct contact  with the product . 
 
3.3 Package Layer s 
Total n umber of  layers of packaging  wrapped around  the product . 
 
3.4 Interspace Ratio  
The ratio between the interspace volume in a sales package and the volume of 
the commodity’s  packag ing.  
 
4 Requirement s 
 
4.1 Basic requireme nts    
 Under the precondition of meeting  the requirements for the  normal 
functionality of the packaging , the materials, structure and cost of the package 
should be adequate to the quality and standard of the packed commodity.  
4.2 Adequacy requirement for mat erials  
 The packaging materials should be adequately selected according to the 
features  and quality of the commodity. Single material s or easily separable 
materials are preferred for the commodity package. Materials with abundant 
resources and recyclable m aterials should be favoured as packaging materials.  
  
4.3 Material dowgauging  requirement  
 Under the precondition of meeting  the requirements for the  normal 
functionality of the packaging , the package should be reasonably designed and 
the use of the packaging materials should be evaluated where appropriate so as  
to reduce the amount of packaging materials  used . 
 
4.4 Structure simplification requirement  
 Under the precondition of meeting  the requirements for the  normal 
functionality of the packaging , the structure a nd function of the package 
should be simplified. Overlapping and complex packaging structure s should 
be avoided and any unnecessary extra function s should not be added.  
 
4.5 Cost requirement s for packaging  
 Effective measures should be taken as according to  Articles  4.2, 4,3 and 4.4 to  
directly  control packaging cost s. Any extra cost s incurred  due to  improper 
material selection, large interspace s and  complicated structure s should be 
avoided.  
 
5 Packaging restriction requirement s for certain  commodit ies 
 
5.1 The inter space ratio and package layer s of certain  commodit ies should 
conform to the rule s stipulated  in Table 1.  
 
Table 1  
 
Restriction Requirement  Category of Commodity  Interspace Ratio  Layer  
Alcoholic Beverages   55%   3 layers  
Pastr ies  55%   3 layers  
Cosmetics   50%   3 layers  
Health Food s  50%   3 layers  
Teas  25%   3 layers  
Grain s  10%   2 layers  
Note 1: the interspace and package layer requirements may be exempt  if the net content in the package 
is less than 30ml or 30g.  
Note 2: the interspace restriction requirement can be relaxed up to 60% for packag ing with a net 
content of between 30ml and 50ml or 30g and 50g.  
Note 3: the Moon Cake is exempt from the requirement for pastr ies. 
Note 4: 0.6 shall b e taken as  the necessary space coefficient k in the interspace calculation.  
    
5.2 For the commodit ies found  in Table 1 , with the except ion of  primary 
pack aging, the total cost of packag ing should not exceed 15% of the 
commodity ’s factory selling pric e. 
 
6 Calcul ation method s for restrictions to the commodity ’s sales packag ing 
6.1 See Appendix A for the packag ing interspace ratio calculation method.  
 
6.2 See Appendix B for the package layer  calculation method . 
 
6.3 See Appendix C for the  method for calculat ing the ratio betwe en the cost 
of packag ing and  the factory selling price.      
Appendix  A  
(specification  appendix)  
 
Package Interspace Ratio  Calculation Method  
 
A.1 The formula  for calculating the package interspace ratio is as follows:  
 
  
  
 In the formula:  
  
 X – package in terspace ratio;  
 
V0 – volume of the commodity ’s sales packag ing that refers to the minimum 
circumscribed cubic volume of the package on sale (excluding any accessories  
such as  handle, fastener, strings, etc);  
 
Vn – total volume of the commodity ’s primary p ackage or total volume of 
each commodity ’s primary package. The commodity ’s primary package refers 
to the minimum circumscribed cubic volume of the commodity ’s primary 
package;  
 
k – commodity ’s necessary coefficient. The commodity ’s necessary spatial  
volum e refers to the space needed to protect and fix each product’s  primary 
package.  
 
A.2 If two or more pieces of merchandise are provided  within the commodity ’s 
sales packag ing, the volume of the labelled  products or of the primary package 
(in the case of a primary package) shall be counted as the total primary 
package volume of the commodity. Merchandise found  in the package that has 
not been labelled  shall not be counted in the  volume of the  total primary 
packag e. In order for the commodity to function norm ally, the volume of any 
accessories in the  commodity’s  sales packa ging shall be counted in the total 
primary package of  the commodity, such as the primary package ’s opening 
tools, product descriptions  or other accessories.     
Appendix  B 
(specification  appen dix) 
 
Package Layer Calculation Method  
 
B.1 Entire  wrapping refers to the layer  of the  commodity ’s packag ing that holds 
the commodity  in place and prevents it from becoming  loose.  
 
B.2 When  calculati ng the number of  packag e layer s, the primary package is 
counted as the ‘zero’ layer, the wrapping  that is in  contact  with the primary 
package is counted as the first layer and the other layers shall be counted in 
the same way. The outmost layer of the sales package is the N layer and N is 
the number  of layers of the package.  
 
B.3 If merchandise s with different numbers of layer s within the same sales 
package  are found , only the layers of the merchandise  that meets the correct 
package layer restriction requirements shall be counted. Each  layer of 
merchandise  that m eets the package layer restriction requirement shall  be 
counted respectively , and it shall be determine d whether  the commodity ’s 
package layer s meet  the requirement s as according  to sales package layer 
restriction s.    
Appendix C 
(information  appendix)  
 
Meth od for C alculat ing the Ratio Between  the Cost of  Packag ing and  the 
Factory Selling Price. 
 
C.1 The formula for calculating the ratio between the cost of packag ing and the 
factory selling price is as follows:  
 
  
  
 
 In the formula:  
 
 Y – ratio between the cost of packaging  and the  factory selling price;  
 C –cost of packaging ; 
 P – factory selling price.  
 
C.2 Package cost auditing method  
C.2.1   The manufacturer of the commodity should verify the calculation of the cost 
of packaging.  
C.2.2  The cost  of packagin g is the total package cost from layer 1 to layer N.  
C.2.3  Auditing of the  cost of  packag ing should be verified  according to the price  
stipulated  in the sales contract s between the commodity manufacturer and the 
package suppliers  or the average selling pri ce of this commodity on the market.  
C.3 Factory selling price auditing method  
C.3.1  The audit of the factory ’s selling price should be verified  according to the 
price  stipulated  in the sales contract s between the commodity manufacturer 
and the retailer s or the average selling price of this commodity on the market.  
C.3.2  The average selling price of the commodity should be calculated according to 
the average price of the commodity on the local area ’s market.  
 
 
______________________________________