A shipper case that is 68% empty fails the PPWR's 50% cap at every counting basis, while a standard box that passes at case level can sit at 47% once the whole pallet is measured

Two duties, two addressees

The PPWR has applied since 12 August 2026, but its minimisation articles bite from 2030. Until then, the Commission says, the existing minimisation requirement of the old Packaging Directive and its standard EN 13428:2004 stay in effect through Article 70(1)(b) until the end of 2029 (Notice, section 10). Exhibit 2 sets the two articles side by side.

Article 10. The Notice quotes paragraph 1 in full: by 1 January 2030 the manufacturer or importer must ensure that packaging placed on the market is designed so that its weight and volume are reduced to the minimum necessary to ensure its functionality, taking account of shape and material. Paragraph 2 adds two bans: packaging that does not meet the Annex IV performance criteria, and packaging with features that aim only to increase perceived volume, including double walls, false bottoms and unnecessary layers (Notice, sections 10 and 11).

Article 24. Paragraph 1 is the numeric rule. The Notice reads it as applying to grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging, to be complied with by the natural or legal person using or filling it (Notice, section 11). The DG ENV FAQ confirms that the 50% threshold applies only to those three formats, and that sales packaging has no maximum: the filler must minimise empty space and show it in the technical documentation (DG ENV FAQ, section XI).

The definitions that matter. The FAQ describes grouped packaging, Article 3(1) point (6), as packaging that bundles several sales units, and transport packaging, point (7), as the outer layer used to move packaged products (DG ENV FAQ, section II.4). Recital 10 maps the two terms onto the older vocabulary: grouped packaging is secondary packaging and transport packaging is tertiary packaging (Regulation (EU) 2025/40, recital 10). The FAQ also says stretch wrap used to stabilise packaged products on pallets should be considered packaging (section II.5). A wrapped pallet of shipper cases is therefore transport packaging around grouped packaging around sales packaging, and both Article 10 and Article 24 reach the outer two layers.

Annex IV: the criteria that justify weight and volume

Article 10(2) makes the Annex IV performance criteria the test of whether a pack is heavier or larger than it needs to be. The Notice quotes point 4 of Part A, packaging functionality, which allows for the purpose of the product and particularities of its sale, such as gifts or seasonal events (Notice, section 10). The full list is not quoted in the Notice, and SPI has not yet confirmed it against the Official Journal; Exhibit 3 follows the eight headings as a compliance provider reproduced them in July 2026 (Complydex, 17 July 2026).

What is missing from the list matters as much. The Notice quotes recital 60: marketing and consumer acceptance remain relevant to design, but they should not be part of the performance criteria that justify extra weight and volume on their own (Notice, section 10). For transport packaging this changes little, since few pallet loads are designed to sell. For grouped packaging that doubles as a display unit, such as a shelf ready tray with a printed header, the functionality point becomes the only route for extra board, and the evidence must show it.

The evidence file

Article 10(4), in the German text as reproduced by LX Gesetze, requires compliance with paragraphs 1 and 2 to be shown in the technical documentation under Annex VII. The documentation must name the specifications and standards used to assess the pack against Annex IV, list for each criterion the design requirement that prevents further reduction of weight or volume, and attach evidence such as test results, studies, modelling or simulations. For reusable packaging, the assessment must take account of its reusable characteristics, mainly the requirements in Article 11 (Article 10, German text as reproduced). Exhibit 4 turns that into an evidence file for a shipper case.

The Notice is clear on who signs: for minimisation, the obligated party is the manufacturer, who carries out the conformity assessment and drafts the technical documentation and the EU declaration of conformity (Notice, section 11). For a corrugated case that is usually the converter or, where a brand places it on the market under its own name, the brand. For the filled pallet load the Article 24 duty sits with the filler, which may be a contract packer or a logistics provider rather than the brand.

ECOS, the Environmental Coalition on Standards, describes the current method as a weak spot. Its March 2026 paper notes that EN 13428 asks suppliers to identify a critical area for source reduction, the performance criterion considered to prevent further reduction without compromising function, safety or acceptability, and argues that this leaves the choice mostly with the supplier (ECOS, March 2026). It proposes a closed list of criteria, documented evidence, checks of alternative designs and a harmonised structure for the file to help market surveillance.

From EN 13428 to numbers: the standards path

The standard is where weight and volume limits will come from. Article 10(3), as quoted in the Notice, asks the Commission to request harmonised standards on calculation and measurement of compliance by 12 February 2027, and adds that for the most common packaging types and formats such standards should specify maximum adequate weight and volume limits and, where appropriate, wall thickness and maximum empty space (Notice, section 10). Exhibit 5 sets out the path.

Two consequences follow. First, the Commission says compliance with a harmonised standard creates a presumption of compliance, and that Member States will have to accept compliant packaging without setting different or additional national requirements (Notice, section 10). Second, from 1 January 2030 EN 13428:2004 can still be used as guidance, but only until a new or updated standard is available (Notice, section 10). An operator that relies on the old method after 2030 relies on guidance, not on a presumption.

The DG ENV FAQ adds that the request will account for the changed Annex IV criteria and that the Commission will identify the most common packaging types and formats itself (DG ENV FAQ, section VII). Which grouped and transport formats make that list will decide whether a shipper case or a pallet wrap gets a numeric weight limit. ECOS’s March 2026 factsheet calls the period from the February 2027 request to the January 2030 application date a tight three-year window, shorter than the usual standards cycle (ECOS factsheet, March 2026).

A framework: the pack level stack

SPI’s organising device for this piece is a stack of four pack levels. Each level meets a different mix of minimisation, empty space, reuse and format rules, and the duties land on different operators. Exhibit 6 sets it out.

Level 2 is where most of the volume decisions sit. A shipper case is chosen once from a box range and then filled many times with different product counts. Level 3 is where most of the weight decisions sit: film gauge, wraps per pallet, corner boards and straps. Level 1 carries the Article 10 duty only, with no fixed ratio, and Article 24(6) asks the Commission to consider by 12 February 2032 whether ratios should be set for sales packaging of products such as toys, cosmetics, DIY kits and electronics (Article 24, German text as reproduced).

Worked example: three shipper cases for one product

To make the rules concrete, SPI built one product flow. A brand ships a cosmetic in a sales carton of 120 x 80 x 200 mm, or 1.92 litres, in cases of 12 cartons, 23.04 litres of sales packaging per case, on 1,200 x 800 mm pallets with a load height of up to 1.50 m. It has three case options. Exhibit 7 sets out the cases.

SPI calculation. Case A holds 23.04 litres of cartons in 72.00 litres, so its empty space is 48.96 litres, or 68.0%. Case C holds the same in 37.50 litres, 38.6% empty. Case B, sized to the 4 by 3 carton pattern with 10 mm of clearance, is 25.73 litres and 10.4% empty. Board area is 1.42, 0.90 and 0.69 square metres, which at 700 g per square metre gives 0.99, 0.63 and 0.49 kg.

Case A is the format the PPWR targets: a case chosen because it was in stock, not because it fits. Article 24(3), in the German text as reproduced, counts filler such as paper, air cushions and foam as empty space, so packing case A with paper to stop the cartons moving does not lower its ratio. Case C is the common middle: a standard size in a short box range that serves several products. Case B is what a bespoke size or a box range built around the product mix delivers.

Scenarios: the counting basis decides the result

The Article 24(2) act will set the method. Until it does, SPI tested three plausible bases: the case’s internal volume, its external volume and the pallet bounding box including the pallet base. Article 24(2), in the German text as reproduced, already lists features the method must handle: irregular shapes, multi-item packs, liquids, fragile contents, small items at risk from larger ones, and a minimum free area on transport packaging for shipping labels. Exhibit 8 shows the results.

SPI calculation, high case for option C. Thirty-six cases hold 829.44 litres of cartons. The bounding box is 1.2 x 0.8 m by 1.50 m of load plus 0.144 m of pallet, or 1,578.24 litres. Empty space is 748.80 litres, or 47.4%. On the same basis, option B’s 42 cases hold 967.68 litres in 1,549.44 litres, 37.5% empty, because six cases of 490 x 250 mm cover only 735,000 of the pallet’s 960,000 square millimetres.

Three points follow. First, option A fails on every basis, so the rule is already clear for oversized cases. Second, option C moves from an 11.4 point margin under the cap to a 2.6 point margin as the basis widens, which is the zone where the method act will decide. Third, the right-sized case is not the best pallet case: its footprint leaves 23.4% of the pallet deck empty, so at pallet level a case size that tiles the pallet can matter more than a case that hugs the product.

The weight side: what right-sizing saves

Article 10 is about weight as well as volume, and grouped and transport packs carry most of their weight in board and film. Exhibit 9 puts the three options on a year of 100,000 cases and prices the result at ARA’s 2026 commercial rates in Austria. SPI’s commercial and industrial fees piece explains how Austria splits household and commercial packaging; this example assumes all cases and film are commercial.

SPI calculation. Board for option A is 0.9947 kg x 100,000 = 99.47 tonnes; at EUR 0.070 per kg that is EUR 6,962.90. Pallets are 100,000 / 20 = 5,000, film 5,000 x 0.50 kg = 2.50 tonnes, and at EUR 0.180 per kg EUR 450.00. Option B gives 48.62 tonnes of board, EUR 3,403.54, and 2,380.95 pallet loads with 1.19 tonnes of film, EUR 214.29. The total saving from A to B is EUR 3,795.07, or 51.2% of the fee bill; board falls 51.1% and pallet loads 52.4%.

The fee line is the smallest part of the gain. On the same assumptions, option B needs 79 fewer trailer loads a year than option A, and the 50.85 tonnes of board saved is board not bought. The fee numbers are low because ARA’s commercial rates are low: Exhibit 10 shows the gap with household rates.

Grouped packs in practice

Grouped packaging covers more than cases. Shrink-wrapped trays, multipack sleeves, clips and glued packs all bundle sales units, and each must meet Article 10 and, as grouped packaging, the 50% cap. For film-only packs the cap is rarely the binding test, since film follows the products. The binding test is weight under Article 10.

Perceived volume and grouped packs. Article 10(2) bans double walls, false bottoms and unnecessary layers aimed only at perceived volume, with exemptions for designs and trademarks protected before 11 February 2025 and for products under geographical indications or EU quality schemes (Notice, section 10). The DG ENV FAQ adds that Article 24 has no equivalent exemption (section XI). A gift box protected as a design can therefore keep its shape under Article 10, but if it is shipped in an outer grouped case, that case must still meet 50%.

What the method act must settle for pallets

The Article 24(2) act is due by 12 February 2028 and follows the examination procedure (Article 24, German text as reproduced). For grouped and transport packaging, the open questions are practical. Exhibit 11 lists them.

Start date. The cap applies from 1 January 2030 or three years after the act enters into force, whichever is later (Notice, section 11). If the act enters into force on 12 February 2028, its deadline, the later date is 12 February 2031; SPI’s PPWR timeline piece sets out the late act scenarios and does not need repeating. Article 10 has no such link: it applies from 1 January 2030 whatever happens to the standard (DG ENV FAQ, section VII).

Sales packaging filled as part of a grouped pack. The German text of Article 24(4), as reproduced, asks operators that fill sales packaging to keep empty space to the minimum needed for its functions, with rules for products that settle in transit and headspace for food, and dates that duty to 12 February 2028. SPI has not yet confirmed that date against the English Official Journal text.

Penalties. SPI’s tracker entry PR-EU-009 records that the Regulation sets no fine for exceeding the ratio; Member States set penalties in national law. An operator loading pallets in several Member States therefore faces several penalty regimes for one box range.