Packaging industries call for a safeguarding of the Single Market

{K2Splitter}

"At a time when the EU is facing unprecedented challenges, we urge all three EU institutions to explicitly defend the free movement of goods. It is a core principle of the EU which should not be taken for granted and needs to be defended on a daily basis or it will be eroded. Member States will be shooting themselves in the foot if they allow the Single Market for packaged goods to unravel. We would quickly end up with a patchwork of disparate national rules on packaging ending the free movement of goods and leading to trade issues between EU Member States." Hans Van Bochove, Coca-Cola, Chairman of EUROPEN

An unprecedented coalition of EU and national industries representing a variety of sectors have collectively called on the European Union to safeguard the freedom of movement of packaged goods. To these ends, the coalition has released a Joint Statement (pdf) signed by EUROPEN (The European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment) and 65 other industry associations.

There are concerns that Member States are effectively moving towards re-nationalising packaging policy. Intergraf has previously written about two proposed changes to the Circular Economy Package - the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, and the Waste Framework Directive - which could threaten the Single Market for packaging by opening "a Pandora's box of diverging national regulations" (EUROPEN Press Release).