EU gives lead crystal bottles and flacons a final PPWR exemption. Manufacture ends in 2028, sales in 2029

How lead crystal ended up outside the PPWR heavy metal cap

Since 12 August 2026, the PPWR, Regulation (EU) 2025/40, has applied directly in every Member State, as the Commission’s guidance notice of 5 June 2026 states and SPI Regulation Tracker record PR-EU-001 tracks. Article 5(4) carries over a rule packaging makers have lived with since the 1990s: the sum of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium in packaging shall not exceed 100 mg/kg.

The old Packaging Directive, 94/62/EC, reached the same 100 ppm level in steps. Its Article 11 set 600 ppm, then 250 ppm and finally 100 ppm by weight, two, three and five years after the 30 June 1996 transposition date, as SPI’s record PR-EU-013 sets out. Packaging made entirely of lead crystal sat outside those limits under a general derogation in the directive.

Lead crystal cannot meet a 100 mg/kg cap by design. The delegated decision defines crystal glass packaging by the categories in Annex I to Directive 69/493/EEC, and the explanatory memorandum describes lead crystal as glass with a lead oxide (PbO) content of at least 24%, a density of at least 2.90 and a refractive index of at least 1.545. Those thresholds put lead crystal far above a 100 mg/kg cap: 24% lead oxide by mass is 240,000 mg/kg of PbO, or roughly 223,000 mg/kg of lead itself, since lead is about 92.8% of the oxide’s mass, by SPI’s calculation.

The PPWR has no general lead crystal exemption. It does give the Commission power, in Article 5(8), to set conditions under which the Article 5(4) limits do not apply, and the Commission used that power here rather than writing a new act. It chose to amend Decision 2001/171/EC, which since 2001 has let glass packaging exceed the limit where recycled glass, not deliberate addition, is the cause.

The memorandum explains why the formats concerned are treated as a special case.

The formats are bottles, flacons and similar primary packaging for luxury spirits, perfumes and cosmetic products, according to the memorandum.

What changed between August and October

12 August: the Commission adopted the act. The Commission dated Delegated Decision C(2026) 5778 final on 12 August 2026, the same day the PPWR began to apply. Its title is “amending Decision 2001/171/EC as regards crystal glass packaging”, and it is signed by the Commission President, according to the text forwarded to the Council¹.

Before adoption: industry, science and the Member States. The memorandum says the Commission consulted the crystal industry, drew on studies by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) on lead release from crystal glass containers, and discussed the draft with Member State experts in its expert group on waste. It says that consultation took place under PPWR Article 64, before notification to the European Parliament and the Council.

The legal basis. The memorandum grounds the derogation in scientific and technical progress and in the closed loop that producers, customer houses, distributors and consumers form around these packs. It says the act sets marking requirements to support that loop and adds health-related safeguards, the two pillars of the conditions in Articles 5b and 5c¹.

21 August: the act reached the Council. The Secretary-General of the Commission forwarded the act to the Council’s General Secretariat, which registered it as document 12487/26 under the codes ENV 1006 and DELACT 125. The cover note is dated 21 August 2026, 71 days before this article.

The end dates. The new Article 5a sets two dates. Crystal glass packaging may exceed the Article 5(4) concentration levels until 31 December 2029, provided it meets the conditions in Articles 5b and 5c, and crystal glass packaging containing lead, whether intentionally introduced or present as residual contamination, may only be manufactured until 31 December 2028. Article 5b(3) separately requires producers to cease manufacture with intentionally introduced lead by the same date. The memorandum states the 2028 date as an industry commitment.

Why a run-off year. Recital 12 ties the extra year to stock. Packaging made before the end of 2028 may be finished, filled, labelled, distributed and placed on the market until the end of 2029, so that packaging already produced does not have to be destroyed, according to the act¹.

What happens next in law. Article 2 says the decision enters into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. SPI has not yet confirmed the Official Journal reference or publication date on EUR-Lex. Until SPI confirms publication, the conditions below describe the act as adopted and sent to the Council.

What the delegated decision requires

The act makes two changes to Decision 2001/171/EC. It replaces Article 2 with new definitions and inserts three articles, 5a, 5b and 5c, that set the dates and the conditions. Every condition applies for as long as a producer relies on the exemption, and a pack that misses one falls back under the plain 100 mg/kg cap.

The new definitions do most of the scoping. “Crystal glass packaging” means packaging made entirely or partially of the crystal glass categories in Annex I to Directive 69/493/EEC. A “closed and controlled loop” is a system in which that packaging goes to market through identifiable commercial channels, carries a permanent marking, comes back through controlled collection and is recycled in the producer’s own process.

The health safeguard targets liquids. Packaging meant for prolonged contact with liquids must undergo dealkalisation, or an equivalent process that forms a surface barrier. Recital 10 says dealkalisation forms a silica barrier, which the CEA studies found substantially reduces lead release into the contents, though the act gives no test figures.

The lead rule is narrow. New Article 5b(1) says lead may be intentionally introduced only insofar as it is necessary to manufacture crystal glass packaging, so by SPI’s reading lead added for any other purpose falls outside the exemption. Article 5b(3) then requires producers to cease that manufacture by 31 December 2028.

The return chain runs through the market, not around it. Under Article 5c, operators must tell end users that the packaging can be returned for recycling free of charge, and returned packaging goes to the producer named in the marking, either directly or through commercial channels. That producer may then put the glass back into its own furnace.

Records close the loop. Producers must keep records of the closed and controlled loop and make them available on request, according to the act¹. The text does not set a format, a retention period or a reporting date, and SPI has not yet confirmed whether the Commission plans guidance on how authorities will check the records.

Who is exposed before the 2028 cut-off

Crystal glass producers. The small number of specialised plants in France, Portugal, Czechia and Slovenia carry the main legal duties: the 2028 manufacturing stop, the barrier treatment, the marking and the records. The memorandum puts their committed investment in lead-free crystal at more than EUR 50 million, and the act gives them 26 months, by SPI’s calculation from today, to finish the switch.

Luxury spirits brands. Cognac, whisky and other premium spirits sold in crystal decanter-style bottles face the strictest use case, because spirits sit in prolonged contact with the glass. Every such bottle relying on the exemption needs a dealkalisation or equivalent barrier treatment, and the brand needs a lead-free replacement qualified before its last lead crystal order in 2028.

Exporters. The Commission says a significant part of EU lead crystal output goes outside the Union. The PPWR rules govern packaging placed on the EU market, and SPI has not yet confirmed whether the Commission reads the 2028 manufacturing stop in Article 5b(3) as binding on EU plants that make lead crystal packaging only for export. Brands selling crystal in Asian or American markets should ask their supplier for its reading.

Perfume and cosmetics houses. Flacons are named in the memorandum alongside bottles. Perfume is also a liquid in prolonged contact, so the barrier condition applies, and high-end flacons often run long, numbered editions that may straddle the 31 December 2029 sell-through date.

Distributors and retailers. Article 5c puts duties on operators along the chain. Those placing the packaging on the market must tell end users that it can be returned free of charge, and returned items must reach the producer named on the marking, so duty-free, department store and online channels need a return route.

Glass recyclers and EPR schemes. Crystal is meant to stay out of the container glass stream. Decision 2001/171/EC already lets ordinary glass packaging exceed the limit where recycled cullet is the cause, with a report to authorities if a furnace’s twelve-month average passes 200 ppm, according to the 2001 decision. A closed loop for crystal keeps lead-rich glass out of those furnaces.

Brand owners still paying glass EPR fees. Crystal packs remain glass packaging for EPR reporting. SPI’s glass fees Ledger shows 2026 household glass weight rates of EUR 20.10 per tonne at Citeo in France and EUR 86.80 per tonne at Sociedade Ponto Verde in Portugal, two of the four producer countries⁸.

The pinch point: an exemption that started after the PPWR

The PPWR applied from 12 August 2026, and the memorandum says the old general exemption for lead crystal packaging ended with the repeal of the Packaging Directive. The new exemption, however, only takes effect on the day after its Official Journal publication, according to Article 2 of the act¹.

That leaves a gap of at least eleven weeks, by SPI’s calculation from 12 August to 31 October, during which the act did not yet apply. The text contains no transitional clause for lead crystal packaging placed on the market in that window. SPI has not yet confirmed how national market surveillance authorities in France, Portugal, Czechia, Slovenia or importing Member States treat such packaging in the interim.

The second constraint is technical. Recital 7 says lead-free compositions exist, but residual lead makes the switch technically complex. By SPI’s reading, a producer whose lead-free glass still exceeds 100 mg/kg in 2029 would no longer have the crystal exemption to fall back on, and the recycled glass route in Decision 2001/171/EC covers only lead from recycled material, not intentional addition.

A third pressure sits outside packaging law. The memorandum cites Directive (EU) 2024/869, which sets limits on workers’ exposure to lead, as part of the regulatory context for crystal makers. For a plant already changing furnace recipes before 2028, occupational limits add a second reason to move off lead, by SPI’s reading of the memorandum.

How the crystal rule compares with earlier heavy metal regimes

Heavy metal rules for EU packaging have run on three layers since 1994: a limit, a derogation for recycled glass, and a carve-out for lead crystal. The delegated decision keeps the first two and turns the third into a dated exit. The table below sets out what each layer allowed and on what terms.

Directive 94/62/EC brought the cap down to 100 ppm by 30 June 2001, and SPI’s record PR-EU-013 notes that EUR-Lex lists 31 December 2028 as the date the directive will no longer be in force, because some of its provisions continue to apply after its repeal⁵. PPWR Article 70(1), in an unofficial consolidated text, keeps most of those provisions to 31 December 2028 but the minimisation rule and a data transmission duty to 31 December 2029, by SPI’s reading of that text. The lead crystal manufacturing stop falls on the 2028 date.

Decision 2001/171/EC of 19 February 2001 set the recycled glass conditions. It barred intentional introduction of the four metals during manufacture, allowed the limit to be exceeded only because recycled material was added, and required a report to authorities with measured values, methods, suspected sources and remedies if a furnace’s twelve-month average exceeded 200 ppm. Its recital 7 set an expiry of 30 June 2006, and Decision 2006/340/EC of 8 May 2006 prolonged the conditions and deleted Article 6².

The PPWR treats other substances in packaging through Article 5 as well. Article 5(5) bans food-contact packaging containing PFAS at or above set limits from 12 August 2026, as SPI’s record PR-EU-002 tracks, with a review set for 12 February 2030⁶. SPI’s 15 October story on Commission guidance for small producers showed the same pattern of PPWR detail arriving in Commission acts and notices after the Regulation began to apply⁹.

Glass costs differ by country even where the rule is the same. SPI’s Ledger 47 found 2026 household glass weight rates from EUR 19.14 per tonne at Repak in Ireland to EUR 108 per tonne at ARA in Austria, a factor of 5.6, and rates for Czechia and Slovenia are not in that Ledger⁸. Those fees are paid per tonne of glass placed on each national market and are not comparable with the crystal sector’s EUR 50 million investment figure.