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1. For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

(1) ‘packaging’ means an item, irrespective of the materials from which it is made, that is intended to be used by an economic operator for the containment, protection, handling, delivery or presentation of products to another economic operator or to an end user, and that can be differentiated by packaging format based on its function, material and design, including:

(a) an item that is necessary to contain, support or preserve a product throughout its lifetime, without being an integral part of the product, and which is intended to be used, consumed or disposed of together with the product;

(b) a component of, and ancillary element to, an item referred to in point (a) that is integrated into the item;

(c) an ancillary element to an item referred to in point (a) that is hung directly on, or attached to, the product and that performs a packaging function, without being an integral part of the product, and which is intended to be used, consumed or disposed of together with the product;

(d) an item that is designed and intended to be filled at the point of sale in order to dispense the product, which is also referred to as ‘service packaging’;

(e) a disposable item that is sold and filled or designed and intended to be filled at the point of sale and which performs a packaging function;

(f) a permeable tea, coffee or other beverage bag, or soft after-use system single-serve unit that contains tea, coffee or another beverage, and which is intended to be used and disposed of together with the product;

(g) a non-permeable tea, coffee or other beverage system single-serve unit intended for use in a machine and which is used and disposed of together with the product

(2) ‘waste’ means waste as defined in Article 3, point (1), of Directive 2008/98/EC; reusable packaging sent to reconditioning is not considered to be waste (3) ‘take-away packaging’ means service packaging filled at attended points of sale with beverages or ready-prepared food that are packaged for transportation and immediate consumption at another location without the need for any further preparation and are typically consumed from the packaging (4) ‘primary production packaging’ means an item designed and intended to be used as packaging for unprocessed products from primary production as defined in Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) ‘sales packaging’ means packaging conceived so as to constitute a sales unit consisting of products and packaging to the end user at the point of sale

(6) ‘grouped packaging’ means packaging conceived so as to constitute a grouping of a certain number of sales units at the point of sale, irrespective of whether that grouping of sales units is sold as such to the end user or whether it serves as a means to facilitate the restocking of shelves at the point of sale or to create a stock-keeping or distribution unit, and which can be removed from the product without affecting its characteristics (7) ‘transport packaging’ means packaging conceived so as to facilitate the handling and transport of one or more sales units or a grouping of sales units, in order to prevent damage to the product from handling and transport, but which excludes road, rail, ship and air containers (8) ‘e-commerce packaging’ means transport packaging used to deliver products in the context of sale online or through other means of distance sales to the end user (9) ‘making available on the market’ means any supply of packaging, whether empty or with a product, for distribution, consumption or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge

(10) ‘placing on the market’ means the first making available of packaging, whether empty or with a product, on the Union market (11) ‘making available on the territory of the Member State’ means any supply of packaging, whether empty or with a product, for distribution, consumption or use on the territory of the Member State in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge (12) ‘economic operator’ means the manufacturer, the supplier, the importer, the distributor, the authorised representative, the final distributor and the fulfilment service provider

(13) ‘manufacturer’ means any natural or legal person that manufactures packaging or a packaged product; however:

(a) subject to point (b), where a natural or legal person has packaging or a packaged product designed or manufactured under its own name or trademark, regardless of whether any other trademark is visible on the packaging or on the packaged product, ‘manufacturer’ means that natural or legal person;

(b) where the natural or legal person that has the packaging or packaged product designed or manufactured under its own name or trademark falls within the definition of micro-enterprise set out in Recommendation 2003/361/EC as applicable on 11 February 2025, and the natural or legal person that supplies the packaging to the natural or legal person that has the packaging designed or manufactured under its own name or trademark is located in the same Member State, ‘manufacturer’ means the natural or legal person that supplies the packaging (14) ‘distance contract’ means distance contract as defined in Article 2(7) of Directive 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council

(15) ‘producer’ means any manufacturer, importer or distributor to whom, irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance contracts, one of the following applies:

(a) the manufacturer, importer or distributor is established in a Member State and makes available for the first time from within the territory of that Member State and on that same territory transport packaging, service packaging, or primary production packaging, whether as single-use packaging or as reusable packaging; or (b) the manufacturer, importer or distributor is established in a Member State and makes available for the first time from within the territory of that Member State and on that same territory products packaged in packaging other than those referred to in point (a); or (c) the manufacturer, importer or distributor is established in a Member State or in a third country and makes available for the first time on the territory of another Member State, directly to end users, transport packaging, service packaging or primary production packaging, whether as single-use packaging or as reusable packaging; or (d) the manufacturer, importer or distributor is established in a Member State or in a third country and makes available for the first time on the territory of another Member State, directly to end users, products packaged in packaging other than those referred to in point (c); or (e) the manufacturer, importer or distributor is established in a Member State and unpacks packaged products without being an end user, unless another person is the producer as defined in point (a), (b), (c) or (d)

(16) ‘supplier’ means any natural or legal person that supplies packaging or packaging material to a manufacturer (17) ‘importer’ means any natural or legal person established within the Union that places packaging from a third country on the market (18) ‘distributor’ means any natural or legal person in the supply chain, other than the manufacturer or importer, that makes packaging available on the market (19) ‘authorised representative’ means any natural or legal person established in the Union that has received a written mandate from the manufacturer to act on that manufacturer’s behalf in relation to specified tasks with regard to the manufacturer’s obligations under this Regulation

(20) ‘authorised representative for the extended producer responsibility’ means any natural or legal person established in the Member State where the producer makes packaging or packaged products available on the territory of the Member State for the first time, or where it unpacks packaged products without being an end user, other than the Member State or the third country where the producer is established, and that is appointed by the producer in accordance Article 8a(5), third subparagraph, of Directive 2008/98/EC to fulfil the obligations of that producer under Chapter VIII of this Regulation (21) ‘final distributor’ means the natural or legal person in the supply chain that delivers packaged products, including through re-use, or products that can be purchased through refill to the end user (22) ‘consumer’ means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside their trade, business or profession

(23) ‘end user’ means any natural or legal person that resides or is established in the Union to whom a product has been made available either as a consumer or as a professional end user in the course of its industrial or professional activities, and that does not make that product further available on the market in the form supplied to it (24) ‘composite packaging’ means a unit of packaging made of two or more different materials which are part of the weight of the main packaging material and cannot be separated manually and therefore form a single integral unit, unless one of the materials constitutes an insignificant part of the packaging unit and in any event no more than 5 % of the total mass of the packaging unit and excluding labels, varnishes, paints, inks, adhesives and lacquers; this is without prejudice to Directive (EU) 2019/904 (25) ‘packaging waste’ means any packaging or packaging material that is waste, with the exception of production residues

(26) ‘packaging waste prevention’ means measures that are taken before any packaging or packaging material has become packaging waste and that reduce the quantity of packaging waste, so that less or no packaging is required to contain, protect, handle, deliver or present products, including measures as regards the re-use of the packaging and measures to extend the life of the packaging before it becomes waste (27) ‘re-use’ means any operation by which reusable packaging is used again multiple times for the same purpose for which it was conceived (28) ‘single-use packaging’ means packaging which is not reusable packaging (29) ‘rotation’ means the cycle that reusable packaging accomplishes from the moment it is placed on the market together with the product it is intended to contain, protect, handle, deliver or present to the moment it is ready to be re-used within a re-use system with a view to it being supplied again to end users together with another product (30) ‘trip’ means the transfer of packaging, from filling or loading to emptying or unloading, as part of a rotation or on its own