The European cosmetics industry fully supports the objectives of the revision of the PPWR to harmonise the Single Market rules on packaging and move towards more sustainable packaging.
This revision is important for the cosmetics industry because packaging plays a key role in making sure cosmetic products reach consumers in the best possible condition. Packaging keeps products safe, usable for longer and carries important and extensive mandatory information. Moreover, packaging differentiates products and helps improve their distinctiveness, strengthening the brands’ identity and the consumer experience.
Cosmetics Europe welcomes the acknowledgement by the Council that packaging design rights and trademarks should be protected when minimising packaging. However, the Council’s text could be further improved in line with the European parliament’s position, by recognising that packaging minimisation processes should take into account the shape of packaging.
Cosmetics Europe is also concerned that the adopted approach introduces several national derogations. We would like to stress the importance of ensuring harmonisation of national rules to avoid fragmentation of the EU Single Market.
We also urge the Council and the European Commission to support the European Parliament’s position on digital labelling for small cosmetic products. Allowing labelling information for small cosmetic products to be accessed digitally instead of on-pack would help minimise packaging and contribute to the EU waste reduction objectives.
We would also recommend for the policymakers to adopt a minimum recycling content calculation based on the average of all packaging placed on the market by an economic operator. This would help operators reduce the environmental impact of their packaging by using recycled plastic where feasible. It would also allow operators to use high-quality virgin plastic material in the packaging of contact-sensitive products which in turn ensures consumer safety.
We also call on the legislators to clarify the suggested restrictions on formats of hotel miniature packaging and secondary packaging for cosmetics.
Cosmetics Europe urges the European policymakers to re-consider the above-mentioned issues during the upcoming trilogue discussions. We will further collaborate with the European legislators to ensure that our sector’s concerns are addressed.
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Cosmetics Europe is the European trade association for the cosmetics and personal care industry. Our members include cosmetics and personal care manufacturers as well as associations representing our industry at national level, right across Europe.
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