Hazel O’Keeffe Quoted in Chemical Watch Insight Article on the PPWR’s Impacts on Packaging

Keller and Heckman Partner Hazel O’Keeffe was quoted in the Chemical Watch Insight article, “What impact will the PPWR have on packaging designs and formats?” The article discusses how the EU’s packaging and packaging waste regulation (PPWR) will influence the way many brands go about their packaging designs and processes.

Because of the PPWR, Hazel warned that brands might find their creative freedom restricted. “With respect to packaging minimisation, for instance,” she commented, “while certain trademarks or design rights in place before the entry into force of the PPWR may be protected, even in this circumstance the protection only applies if the packaging minimisation requirement affects the packaging design in such a way that it alters its novelty, its individual character or it affects that trademark in such a way that the trademark is not capable anymore of distinguishing the marked products from those of other business operators.”

Hazel advised businesses “to be proactive in assessing how the PPWR impacts their packaging, as it will take time to adapt.” She added that the PPWR “will introduce sweeping changes that will impact all packaging, including protected packaging designs and trademark. These include design for recycling criteria that will inevitably push business operators to use ‘simpler’ packaging such as monomaterials or monolayers, to reduce black or dark coloured packaging and to avoid certain additives that could impede recycling. There are also recycled content requirements with very few exemptions.”

Businesses will also want to note what kinds of products are included within the regulation’s definition. “There are many examples of products that fall within the definition of packaging in Annex I of the PPWR, although business operators or consumers might not necessarily consider them as such,” said Hazel. “Examples are labels hung directly on or attached to a product, a mascara brush which forms part of the container closure, staples, and even disposable plates and cups designed and intended to be filled at the point of sale. It should also be kept in mind that the lists in Annex I are merely indicative lists, and if a product is not listed in Annex I, an assessment would need to be conducted as to whether it falls within the definition of ‘packaging’ in the PPWR.”

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