WRITTEN QUESTION E-3155/01 by Karin Riis-Jørgensen (ELDR) to the Commission. Interpretation of directive on packaging and packaging waste (94/62/EC).
Date: 2001-11-14
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EC Directive, interpretation of the law, packaging, waste management

C 147 E/118

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.6.2002

(2002/C 147 E/122)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3155/01

by Karin Riis-Jørgensen (ELDR) to the Commission

(14 November 2001)

Subject: Interpretation of directive on packaging and packaging waste (94/62/EC)

A point of dispute has arisen in connection with the interpretation of the above directive.

Is it the Commission’s interpretation of Directive 94/62/EC (1) that a glass decorated with the name of a
particular brewery, which is used for serving in restaurants, bars and similar premises, and which may be
used only for serving beer from the brewery whose name appears on the glass, can be defined as
packaging?

(1) OJ L 365, 31.12.1994, p. 10.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(16 January 2002)

It is the Commission’s interpretation that a glass decorated with the name of a particular brewery, which is
used for serving in restaurants, bars and similar premises, and which may be used only for serving beer
from the brewery whose name appears on the glass, cannot be defined as a packaging nor a sales
packaging under the Packaging Directive (Directive 94/62/EC of the Parliament and the Council of
20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste).

To be considered packaging it must fulfil a packaging function and to be considered a sales-packaging it
must constitute a sales unit to the final user or consumer at the point of purchase. The described glass
does not fulfil any of these criteria.

‘Packaging’ is defined in Article 3 (1), (1) of the Directive as ‘all products made of any materials of any
nature to be used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery and presentation of goods, from raw
materials to processed goods, from the producer to the user or the consumer. Non-returnable items used
for the same purposes shall also be considered to constitute packaging’.

‘Sales packaging’ is defined in Article 3, (1), (1) a) as ‘packaging conceived so as to constitute a sales unit to
the final user or consumer at the point of purchase.’

Under normal circumstances a drinking glass made of glass or plastic that is cleaned and reused is not
fulfilling a packaging function and is therefore not considered a packaging within the meaning of the
Packaging Directive.

Similarly a drinking glass that is sold separately, empty and as a drinking glass is not considered to be
packaging.

If however a product is sold in a glass that can be utilised as a drinking glass after consumption of the
content, that glass is considered to be a packaging.

The criteria of fulfilling a packaging function or purpose has been confirmed by the so-called Article 21
Committee under the Packaging Directive in the context of defining disposable items. A document entitled
‘Common understanding on the interpretation of the definition of packaging’ approved at a meeting on
11 March 1999 reflects this. The document is being sent directly to the Honourable Member and
Parliament’s Secretariat.

A glass as described in the question which is used for serving in restaurants etc. is in the Commission’s
view not to be considered as sales packaging either : meaning a packaging conceived so as to constitute a
sales unit to the final user or consumer at the point of purchase see the above definition of ‘sales
packaging’. It is thus only the beer, and not the beer and the glass, that is sold.