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PPWR Article 11: Reusable packaging

Article 11 of Regulation (EU) 2025/40, the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.

Applies from12 August 2026
BindsManufacturers, importers, distributors
EvidenceLOCKED read in the EUR-Lex text

What it requires

Sets what a pack has to be to count as reusable at all: conceived, designed and placed on the market to be reused multiple times, able to withstand a minimum number of rotations under normally predictable conditions of use, and capable of being emptied and reconditioned without prejudice to safety or hygiene. The minimum-rotations act is a separate implementing act. If a format fails this article it cannot be counted toward the Art. 29 reuse targets. Note on a divergence with the Commission's own guidance. The second edition of the Commission's PPWR FAQ, published 31 July 2026, lists Art. 11 as applying 'from the date of entry into force of the Regulation (11 February 2025)'. This Atlas states 12 August 2026, because Art. 71 applies the Regulation from that date and carves out only Art. 67(5), and Art. 11 carries no application date of its own. The Official Journal text governs what the Regulation requires; the FAQ shows what the Commission says, and the two are not the same thing. In practice the gap is narrower than it looks, because the FAQ's own sentence defers the minimum-rotations requirement to the Art. 11(2) implementing act due 12 February 2027, so neither reading imposes a binding rotations duty before then. Flagged here rather than quietly resolved, because it is the Commission's document and you should know both readings exist before you rely on either.

This is a plain-English summary for planning, not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for the text. Read Article 11 in full at EUR-Lex, and verify against the Official Journal before any compliance decision.

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