Environmental labelling

On 11 September 2020, Legislative Decree No. 116 of 3 September 2020 was published in the Official Journal, transposing EU Directive 2018/851 on waste and Directive (EU) 2018/852 on packaging and packaging waste in Italy. The decree made important changes, introducing mandatory environmental labelling for all packaging released for consumption in Italy. In particular, Article 3 paragraph 3, letter c) of the Decree amended paragraph 5 of Article 219 of Legislative Decree No. 152 of 3 April 2006, which transposes, and now reinforces, the provisions of Article 8 paragraph 2 of Directive 94/62/EC, i.e. that "in order to facilitate collection, reuse and recovery including recycling, packaging must indicate, for the purposes of its identification and classification by the industry concerned, the nature of the packaging material(s) used".

Specifically, Article 219 paragraph 5 of Legislative Decree No. 152 of 3 April 2006 provides:

“All packaging must be appropriately labelled in accordance with the modalities established by the applicable UNI technical standards and in compliance with the determinations adopted by the Commission of the European Union, in order to facilitate the collection, reuse, recovery and recycling of packaging as well as to provide correct information to consumers on the final destinations of packaging. Producers are also obliged to indicate, for packaging identification and classification purposes, the nature of the packaging materials used, based on Commission Decision 97/129/EC.”

The labelling requirements take effect on 1 January 2023 and apply to all packaging, with the exception of packaging for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, as explained in the environmental statement issued by the Ministry. Packaging without the labelling requirements that has already been placed on the market or is provided with labelling on 1 January 2023 may be marketed until stocks are exhausted.

For the correct fulfilment of packaging labelling obligations by the responsible parties, Ministerial Decree No. 360 of 28 September 2022 was published on 21 November 2022, which adopts the "Guidelines on Environmental Labelling pursuant to Art. 219, Paragraph 5 of Legislative Decree No. 152 of 3 April 2006”.
The document follows the contents of the Guidelines already issued by CONAI and implements the indications of the European Commission on the subject of reinforcing the use of digitalisation of labels, already foreseen in the original version. In summary, the decree provides that:

• On all packaging (primary, secondary and tertiary) manufacturers must indicate the alpha-numeric coding required by Decision 97/129/EC;
• All packaging must be labelled in the form and manner that the company deems most suitable and effective for achieving the objective, for which digital channels (e.g. Apps, QR codes, websites) can always be used, which can completely replace or supplement the information directly on the packaging;
• Appropriate labelling must also be present on the packaging for consumers to support them in their separate collection;
• For plastic packaging made of polymers or combinations thereof not expressly provided for in Decision 97/129/EC, reference may be made to EN ISO 1043-1 for identification.

Further clarifications on the environmental labelling of packaging (contained in MITE Circular no. 52445 of 17 May 2021 and in the above-mentioned Guidelines) concern neutral packaging, with particular reference to transport packaging: in order to guarantee the correct environmental labelling also of finished packaging sold directly by the manufacturer, neutral, without graphics or printing, (e.g. transparent bags, non-personalised wrappings) and transport packaging or tertiary packaging pursuant to Art. 218, para. 1 let. d) of the TUA such as palletising film, pallets, boxes or corrugated cardboard interlayers, it is necessary to consider a possible alternative to the traditional labelling to be affixed to the packaging itself. "For the aforementioned packaging, the obligation to identify the composition material of the packaging is deemed to be fulfilled if the manufacturer includes this information on the transport documents accompanying the goods, or on other external media, including digital media”.