Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive on marking of packaging and on the establishment of a conformity assessment procedure for packaging (96/C 382/05) (Text with EEA relevance) COM(96) 191 final - 96/0123(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission on 25 November 1996) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 100a thereof,

Having regard to the Directive 94/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste (1), and in particular Article 8 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee,

Having regard to the Council Decision of 22 July 1993 concerning the modules of the various phases of the conformity assessment procedures and the rules for the affixing and the use of the CE conformity marking (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189b of the Treaty;

Whereas markings are necessary to inform the consumer about the nature of packaging, and to provide a possible choice between different types of packaging;

Whereas markings are essential to enable the consumer to contribute to promoting reuse and recycling of packaging, and thus prevent the creation of packaging waste;

Whereas the current use of different symbols for the same purpose and vice versa creates an urgent need to harmonize the symbols for reusable, recoverable and recyclable packaging to remove confusion;

Whereas this harmonization should be done at Community level, since packaging is a product that is circulating all over the Community, thus the markings of this Directive should be the only ones at Community level to indicate the reusable and recyclable nature of packaging;

Whereas the marking should be linked to the essential requirements of Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste, to ensure that the understanding of the reusable and recyclable nature of packaging is in line with that Directive;

Whereas it is recognized, that the use of markings on packaging is not required where the costs, compared to the benefits, are excessive;

Whereas marking of packaging to indicate that it is reusable or recyclable shall be voluntary;

Whereas Member States shall not impede the placing on the market of packaging which does not bear the symbol for reusable or recyclable;

Whereas Directive 94/62/EC established the requirements that apply to packaging but did not indicate how the conformity of packaging to such requirements must be assessed; whereas it is therefore necessary to insert provisions on conformity assessment;

Whereas this procedure should not impose unnecessary burdens on the manufacturers of packaging,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

This Directive aims to facilitate reuse and recycling of packaging and packaging waste by providing harmonized information to the consumer by marking.

For this purpose the Directive harmonizes the marking of packaging to be placed on a voluntary basis by the operators to indicate its reusability or recyclability.

This Directive also establishes a conformity assessment procedure for all packaging covered by Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste.

Article 2

For the purpose of this Directive:

1. 'reusable packaging` shall mean packaging that complies with the essential requirements as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 9 and paragraph 1 of Annex II and paragraph 2 of the Directive 94/62/EC, as well as Article 11 of this, related to the concentration levels of heavy metals present in packaging;

2. 'recyclable packaging` shall mean packaging that complies with the essential requirements as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 9 and paragraph 1 of Annex II and paragraph 3(a) or (c) or (d) of the Directive 94/62/EC, as well as Article 11 of this, related to concentration levels of heavy metals present in packaging.

Article 3

1. The symbols, shown in Annex I and II of this Directive, shall indicate either the reusable or the recyclable nature of packaging.

2. The Member States take the necessary measures to ensure that these symbols are used only on packaging that corresponds to the definitions indicated in Article 2 of this Directive.

Article 4

The Member States shall take the necessary measures to prohibit the application on packaging of other symbols than those set out in this Directive intended to indicate reusable or recyclable nature of packaging.

This is without prejudice to the application of internationally agreed and adopted standards for indicating reusability or recyclability.

The Committee mentioned in Article 6 shall examine standards indicating the nature of packaging developed in the context of ISO in order to adapt the Annexes, if appropriate, by measures to avoid obstacles to trade.

Article 5

Numbers and abbreviations for material identification according to the material identification system determined by the Commission Decision 96/. . ./EC shall be located in the centre of or below the markings of this Directive.

Article 6

The amendments necessary for adapting the Annexes and the conditions for the use of the markings to scientific and technical progress and to European standards, developed according to Directive 94/62/EC, shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 21 of Directive 94/62/EC.

Article 7

The procedure for the assessment of the conformity of packaging with the essentiel requirements of Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste shall be internal production control (Module A), referred to in Annex III.

Article 8

Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary for them to comply with this Directive within three years from its entry into force.

Article 9

This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 10

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

(1) OJ No L 365, 31. 12. 1994, p. 10.

(2) OJ No L 220, 30. 8. 1993, p. 23.

ANNEX I

MARKING Reusable packaging

>REFERENCE TO A FILM>

ANNEX II

MARKING Recyclable packaging

>REFERENCE TO A FILM>

ANNEX III

Conformity assessment procedure referred to in Article 7

Module A (internal production control) 1. This module describes the procedure whereby the manufacturer or his authorized representative established within the Community, who carries out the obligations laid down in paragraph 2, ensures and declares that the packaging concerned satisfies the requirements of Directive 94/62/EC. The manufacturer or his authorized representative established within the Community must draw up a written declaration of conformity.

2. The manufacturer must establish the technical documentation described in paragraph 3 and he or his authorized representative established within the Community must keep it for a period ending at least four years after the last product has been manufactured at the disposal of the relevant national authorities for inspection purposes.

Where neither the manufacturer nor his authorized representative is established within the Community, the obligation to keep the technical documentation available is the responsibility of the person who places the product on the Community market.

3. Technical documentation must enable the conformity of the product with the requirements Directive 94/62/EC to be assessed. It must cover the design and manufacture of the product, in particular:

- a general description of the product,

- conceptual design and manufacturing drawings etc,

- descriptions and explanations necessary for the understanding of said drawings,

- a list of the standards referred to in Article 10 of Directive 94/62/EC, applied in full or in part, and descriptions of the solutions adopted to meet the essential requirements of Directive 94/62/EC where the standards referred to in its Article 10 have not been applied,

- results of design calculations made, examinations carried out, etc,

- tests reports, including the tests performed in order to verify that the concentration levels of heavy metals referred to in Article 11 (1) of Directive 94/62/EC have been met.

4. The manufacturer or his authorized representative established within the Community must keep a copy of the declaration of conformity with the technical documentation.

5. The manufacturer must take all measures necessary in order that the manufacturing process ensures compliance of the manufactured products with the technical documentation referred to in paragraph 2 and with requirements of Directive 94/62/EC that apply to them.