When the EU Commission adopted the Single Market Strategy last year, it identified fragmented rules around waste and labelling as barriers to progress and prioritised creating a harmonized packaging labelling system for consumer sorting. Marzia Scopelliti-Kübler, senior public affairs manager at the European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment (EUROPEN), comments on the Joint Research Centre’s recent technical proposal for packaging waste sorting labels and how it ‘misses the mark’ on harmonization.
The Single Market Strategy, adopted by the EU Commission last May, sets out a clear ambition: building the Single Market simpler, seamless, and more resilient by tackling the ten most significant obstacles hindering its effective functioning.
In relation to packaging, identified barriers relate to fragmented rules around waste and labelling. On the latter, the strategy clearly prioritises the creation of a harmonised packaging labelling for consumer sorting, in line with Article 12(1) of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). Important note: the EU Commission’s document stresses the necessary for such a labelling system to strike a balance between providing clear, consistent information to consumers and reducing market fragmentation and regulatory burdens for indusattempt.
Fast forward, the Joint Research Centre’s technical proposal for packaging waste sorting labels, published a few weeks ago, misses the mark on harmonisation by continuing to prioritise the utilize of text and colour as part of a pictogram-based labelling system. In practice, this would require translation into national languages and the adaptation of production processes, undermining the very objective of a system that should work seamlessly across borders for both consumers and economic operators.
Such a proposal couldn’t be more misplaced. The EU Commission’s Annual Competitiveness and Single Market Report, published on 30 January, depicts a bleak outsee for the EU economy and the Single Market, highlighting that persistent barrier at national and European level hold back the Union Market, forgoing economic potential. Particularly in the area of Single Market and circularity, once again, national labelling requirements linked to packaging waste sorting are criticised for forcing companies to relabel products or adapt digital content, creating fragmentation. Overall, the Report finds that circularity is progressing slowly due to diverging rules in the Single Market.
This evidence should inform a more honest reflection on how to relaunch Europe’s greatest economic asset, seeing at stronger enforcement of Single Market principles by both the EU Commission and the Member States. Too often, it is assumed that national labelling schemes automatically signal higher environmental ambition, while EU-wide harmonisation is portrayed as a race to the bottom. The reality is quite different: fragmented national approaches have not consistently delivered better environmental outcomes, and they have clearly imposed higher costs and greater complexity on businesses and consumers alike.
So how do we shift forward?
The EU Commission and Member States now face a decisive choice: allowing fragmentation to persist, driving up costs while failing to deliver the environmental outcomes envisaged by the PPWR, or commit to a genuinely harmonised system that works for consumers, indusattempt, and the environment. As it stands, the JRC proposal risks adding further layers of fragmentation rather than resolving existing ones. Without a clear shift towards true harmonisation, the promise of the Single Market in this area will remain unattconcludeed.
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