Single-use plastics directive: what Directive (EU) 2019/904 asks of a seller outside the EU

If you sell a plastic item from the Directive’s Annex to a buyer in an EU country, and your business is outside the EU, you are the producer there. The ban, the attached cap, the marking and the national producer scheme apply to you for the items they name. Each part has its own date and its own list of products, so start with the table.

What you do:

1. Match each product to the table below. A product in no Part of the Annex, and not made of oxo-degradable plastic, is outside the Directive.
2. Stop selling to EU buyers any item in Part B and any product made of oxo-degradable plastic, unless an exception below covers it. No registration makes them legal (Art. 5Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
3. On a beverage container of up to three litres, keep every plastic cap and lid attached to the container while it is used (Art. 6(1)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 6, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
4. On pads, tampons and applicators, wet wipes, tobacco products with filters and filters, and beverage cups, print the marking from Regulation (EU) 2020/2151Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2151, marking of single-use plastic productsThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office., in the language of the country where the product is sold (Art. 7(1)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 7, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 3Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2151, marking of single-use plastic productsArticle 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
5. For a Part E item, join the producer scheme of each EU country you sell it into (Art. 3(11)(b)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 3, point 11, point (b)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 8Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Part E Section I is food containers, packets and wrappers, beverage containers up to three litres, beverage cups and lightweight carrier bags. Section II is wet wipes and balloons. Section III is tobacco products with filters and their filters. Fishing gear containing plastic has its own scheme outside Part E (Art. 8(8)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 8, paragraph 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Directive is silent on whether a producer outside the EU needs an authorised representative (Art. 8(6)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 8, paragraph 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 8(7)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 8, paragraph 7Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Germany requires one before you start (EWKFondsG §10(1)), and for the Section I items that count as packaging, the PPWR requires one in each EU country you sell into (Art. 45(3)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 45, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
6. If the item is also packaging, such as a filled food container, bottle or cup, or a wrapper, the PPWR applies as well: see how the PPWR overlaps.

Do nothing, and each country’s penalties for breaching its national rules apply. The Directive fixes only that they be effective, proportionate and dissuasive (Art. 14Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 14Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The amounts are national.

Each of the Annex’s seven Parts is tied to an article of the Directive

The Directive’s Annex has seven Parts. Oxo-degradable products and fishing gear containing plastic sit outside the Parts and have their own rules (Art. 2(1)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 2, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The table follows the Annex as adopted, Parts A to G. Two Part B exceptions and the glass and metal beverage containers are in the next section; the Part B points added by the PPWR are under “How the PPWR overlaps”.

A seller outside the EU is the producer in the buyer’s country

The Directive has its own producer definition. Case (b) is written for you: any person established in an EU country or in a third country that professionally sells, in another EU country, “directly to private households or to users other than private households, by means of distance contracts”, single-use plastic products, filled single-use plastic products or fishing gear containing plastic (Art. 3(11)(b)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 3, point 11, point (b)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A distance contract is the one defined in the Consumer Rights Directive (Directive 2011/83/EUDirective 2011/83/EU, Consumer Rights Directive (consolidated text of 27 September 2026)The whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office., Article 2Directive 2011/83/EU, Consumer Rights Directive (consolidated text of 27 September 2026)The whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office., point 7). Any place of establishment outside the buyer’s country will do, and the buyer need not be a consumer.

The definition names “filled single-use plastic products” as well as the empty items. A bottle sold with a drink in it is a filled beverage container; the Directive does not define “filled” any further. Persons carrying out fishing activities are left out of the definition.

The ban covers Part B items and all oxo-degradable plastic, since 3 July 2021

The countries “shall prohibit the placing on the market” of the Part B items and of products made from oxo-degradable plastic (Art. 5Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), and had to apply this from 3 July 2021 (Art. 17(1)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 17, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The ban attaches to the product, not to a registration or a producer. The items are these nine, as the Annex originally listed them:

1. Cotton bud sticks, except those that fall within the medical devices Directives 90/385/EEC or 93/42/EEC.
2. Cutlery: forks, knives, spoons, chopsticks.
3. Plates.
4. Straws, with the same medical devices exception.
5. Beverage stirrers.
6. Sticks to be attached to and support balloons, except for balloons for industrial or other professional uses that are not distributed to consumers, including the mechanisms of such sticks.
7. Food containers made of expanded polystyrene.
8. Beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene, with their caps and lids.
9. Cups for beverages made of expanded polystyrene, with their covers and lids.

Plastic caps on beverage containers must stay attached, since 3 July 2024

A Part C beverage container may be placed on the market only if its plastic caps and lids remain attached to the container during the product’s intended use (Art. 6(1)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 6, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The countries had to apply this from 3 July 2024 (Art. 17(1)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 17, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). It covers beverage containers up to three litres, bottles and composite beverage packaging such as cartons included. The exceptions are glass or metal beverage containers with plastic caps and lids, and containers used for liquid food for special medical purposes (Annex Part C, points (a) and (b)). A metal cap or lid with a plastic seal is not a plastic cap (Art. 6(2)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 6, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

A cap that meets the harmonised standard is presumed to comply (Art. 6(4)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 6, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Commission published the reference of EN 17665:2022+A1:2023, “Packaging - Test methods and requirements to demonstrate that plastic caps and lids remain attached to beverage containers”, in Article 1 of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/1060.

Four groups of product carry a plastic marking, set by Regulation 2020/2151

Each Part D product must bear a “conspicuous, clearly legible and indelible marking” on its packaging or on the product, telling consumers the right waste option and the presence of plastic and the harm of littering (Art. 7(1)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 7, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The countries had to apply this from 3 July 2021 (Art. 17(1)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 17, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2151Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2151, marking of single-use plastic productsThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. fixes the position, size, design, colours and text, and applies from 3 July 2021 (Art. 2Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2151, marking of single-use plastic productsArticle 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 4Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2151, marking of single-use plastic productsArticle 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

The text goes in “the official language or languages of the Member State(s) where the single-use plastic product is placed on the market” (Art. 3Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2151, marking of single-use plastic productsArticle 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), and the translated text sits below the marking or inside its black box. The Commission’s single-use plastics page offers the marking pictograms for download, in all EU languages (Commission, single-use plastics).

Producer responsibility reaches litter clean-up, public collection and awareness

The countries must set up producer-responsibility schemes for every Part E product placed on their market (Art. 8(1)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 8, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The costs the producer covers depend on the Section:

The countries had to apply Article 8Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. of Directive (EU) 2019/904Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. by 31 December 2024, and by 5 January 2023 for Section III and for schemes established before 4 July 2018 (Art. 17(1)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 17, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). No amount is set in the Directive. The costs may not exceed what is needed to provide the services cost-efficiently, and clean-up costs are limited to what public authorities do or have done (Art. 8(4)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 8, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).

A producer established in an EU country that sells Part E products or fishing gear containing plastic in another EU country must appoint an authorised representative there. A country must allow a producer established in another EU country to appoint one (Art. 8(6)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 8, paragraph 6Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 8(7)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 8, paragraph 7Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Neither paragraph speaks of a producer established in a third country, and no other article of the Directive does. For a producer outside the EU the Directive is therefore silent. Germany requires such a producer to appoint an authorised representative before starting (EWKFondsG §10(1)); the German rule is on Germany’s single-use plastics fund. For packaging items the PPWR requires a producer established outside the country of sale to appoint one in each country where it makes the packaging available for the first time (Art. 45(3)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 45, paragraph 3Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). How a country’s packaging register, representative and fees work in practice, in Germany, France and Spain, is in EPR for packaging. The other EPR streams are on EPR.

Bottles need 25% recycled plastic in PET from 2025 and 30% from 2030, as a country average

Each country must ensure that, from 2025, PET bottles listed in Part F contain at least 25% recycled plastic, and that from 2030 all Part F beverage bottles contain at least 30%. Both are “calculated as an average for all” such bottles “placed on the market on the territory of that Member State” (Art. 6(5)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 6, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The target sits on the country, not on one seller’s bottles. The countries calculate the 25% PET target under Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1425, which covers PET bottles only and repeals Decision (EU) 2023/2683 (Articles 2 and 11 of Decision 2026/1425), and they “shall collect” the weight of plastic and recycled plastic from “economic operators that place PET bottles on their market” (Article 5(1) of Decision 2026/1425). If you fill PET bottles or sell filled PET bottles to EU buyers, that is the data a country collects from you. The Directive itself sets no per-bottle percentage.

How the PPWR overlaps from 12 August 2026

Regulation (EU) 2025/40Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationThe whole regulationClick opens the law on the EU Publications Office. (PPWR) has applied since 12 August 2026 and repeals the Packaging Directive 94/62/EC from the same day, with listed exceptions (Art. 71Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 71Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 70(1)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 70, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Directive 2019/904 stays in force. Six things sit where the two meet.

• Which items are packaging. The Commission’s guidelines list filled food containers, beverage containers, bottles, cups, packets and wrappers, lightweight carrier bags and plates as packaging, and so are those placed on the market empty but meant to be filled at the point of sale. Caps, lids, covers, straws and stirrers are packaging when they form an integral part of the packaging. The guidelines list as not packaging the receptacles and cups placed on the market empty and not meant to be filled at the point of sale, and cutlery, straws and stirrers that do not typically serve as packaging, cotton bud sticks, balloons, pads, tampons, wet wipes and tobacco filters (Commission Notice C/2026/4813, section 3, Table 1, guidance, not law). A packaging item carries the PPWR duties too: producer registration before you first make it available in a country, producer responsibility, and the marketplace check (Art. 44(4)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 44, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 45(1)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 45, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 45(4)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 45, paragraph 4Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A non-packaging item has the Directive’s duties only. The steps are in PPWR and EPR for packaging.
• Which text wins. Directive 2019/904 prevails over Directives 94/62/EC and 2008/98/EC “unless provided otherwise by” the PPWR (Art. 67(1)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 67, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Where the Directive’s consumption-reduction article conflicts with the PPWR’s restriction on single-use plastic packaging for food and drink eaten on the premises in the HORECA sector, the PPWR wins, and the Directive says so (Art. 25(1)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 25, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Annex V point 3, Art. 67(1)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 67, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). That PPWR restriction starts on 1 January 2030.
• The old references. A reference to Directive 94/62/EC is read as a reference to the PPWR (Art. 70(5)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 70, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Both the Directive and Regulation 2020/2151 define packaging by that reference (Art. 3(15)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 3, point 15Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 1Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2151, marking of single-use plastic productsArticle 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• Recycled content moves to the PPWR. Points (a) and (b) of Art. 6(5)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 6, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex. are deleted from 1 January 2030 or three years after the Commission’s implementing act under Art. 7(8)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 7, paragraph 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., whichever is the latest (Art. 67(2)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 67, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The Commission owes that act by 31 December 2026 (Art. 7(8)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 7, paragraph 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), so the switch date can fall after 2030. After it the PPWR sets 30% for single-use plastic beverage bottles and 65% from 1 January 2040, as an average per manufacturing plant and year (Art. 7(1)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 7, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 7(2)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 7, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). The PPWR places that duty on the manufacturer and importer of the packaging, not on the country (Art. 15(1)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 15, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 18(1)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 18, paragraph 1Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.).
• More Part B points from 12 February 2029. Point 7, 8 and 9 products made of extruded polystyrene (XPS) join the EPS ones, and the Annex gains three points: shrink wrap used in airports or train stations to protect luggage, chips of polystyrene and other plastics used to protect packed goods during transport and handling, and multi-pack plastic rings used as grouped packaging (Art. 67(5)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 67, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 71Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 71Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Loose-fill chips in your parcels are the one for a seller who ships.
• Market surveillance. The PPWR adds the Directive to Annex I of the Market Surveillance Regulation (Art. 66Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 66Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), so that its product requirements can be monitored and enforced (recital 179 of the PPWR).

What the law leaves open

• When a distance sale counts as made “in” an EU country. The producer definition covers a seller that sells “in another Member State” by distance contract (Art. 3(11)(b)Directive (EU) 2019/904, Single-Use Plastics DirectiveArticle 3, point 11, point (b)Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). Neither the Directive nor the 2026 guidelines say what makes a sale from a website one made in a given country. Meanwhile, treat each EU country you ship into as one where you sell.
• Whether the guidelines’ table of packaging survives the PPWR. The 2026 notice sorts the products into packaging and not packaging against Directive 94/62/EC and does not mention the PPWR. The PPWR reads references to the old Directive as references to itself (Art. 70(5)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 70, paragraph 5Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.), and no text read says the table was re-tested against the PPWR’s own definition. Meanwhile, treat a filled food container, bottle, cup or wrapper, and an empty one meant to be filled at the point of sale, as packaging.
• When the recycled-content rule moves to the PPWR. The date is “1 January 2030 or 3 years” after an implementing act the Commission owes by 31 December 2026, “whichever is the latest” (Art. 67(2)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 67, paragraph 2Click opens the article on EUR-Lex., Art. 7(8)Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Packaging and Packaging Waste RegulationArticle 7, paragraph 8Click opens the article on EUR-Lex.). A slip in that act moves the date, and until then the Directive’s 30% stays in force.