Penalties under the packaging regulation: what Article 68 provides and what is still missing in Italy
Regulation (EU) 2025/40 does not set penalties: Article 68 leaves them to the Member States, which must adopt them by 12 February 2027. In Italy the decree has not yet been issued, and as of the update date of this page no amount is in force.
- Legal reference
- Art. 68
- Last updated
- Official text
- Regulation (EU) 2025/40
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Anyone publishing figures today is not drawing them from the text.
This does not mean non-compliance is without consequences. From 12 August 2026, Article 62 is already applicable, providing for measures other than a monetary penalty and more immediate ones.
The text of Article 68
Headed "Penalties", it is placed among the final provisions. The first paragraph:
"By 12 February 2027, Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of this Regulation and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall notify those rules and measures to the Commission without delay and shall notify it, without delay, of any subsequent amendments affecting them."
The second paragraph adds a single substantive requirement:
"Penalties for non-compliance with the requirements set out in Articles 24 to 29 shall include administrative fines."
Those are the articles on excessive packaging, banned formats, reuse systems, refill and reuse targets. For all other infringements, the choice of the nature of the penalty is left to the Member State.
The third paragraph requires notification to the Commission by that same date of 12 February 2027.
The regulation does not indicate thresholds, minimums, maximums or quantification criteria. No amount can be inferred from the text.
The state of the delegation in Italy
National adaptation is entrusted to Law No 36 of 17 March 2026 (the 2025 European delegation law), in force from 9 April 2026.
Article 14 delegates the Government to adopt, within eight months of the law’s entry into force, one or more legislative decrees to adapt national law to Regulation (EU) 2025/40, also defining the penalties and the authorities responsible for control and surveillance.
Eight months from 9 April 2026 leads to 9 December 2026.
Two practical consequences.
The first: until the decree is issued, no national penalty framework exists, and the competent authorities have not yet been designated.
The second: the framework will change on a specific day, and the transitional provisions will be the point to read first.
What is already applicable from 12 August 2026
Article 62, headed "Formal non-compliance", lists the circumstances in which the Member State requires the economic operator to put an end to the non-compliance. The first six concern documents specifically:
"(a) the EU declaration of conformity has not been drawn up; (b) the EU declaration of conformity has not been drawn up correctly; (c) the QR code or data carrier referred to in Article 12 does not give access to the information required in accordance with that Article; (d) the technical documentation referred to in Annex VII is not available, is not complete or contains errors; (e) the information referred to in Article 15(6) or Article 18(3) is missing, false or incomplete; (f) any other administrative requirement set out in Article 15 or 18 is not met."
The distinction matters: points (a) to (f) do not go through the penalties.
| Circumstance | Consequence if the non-compliance persists |
|---|---|
| Points (a) to (f): declaration, technical documentation, QR code, administrative requirements | Prohibition on making available on the market, recall or withdrawal of the packaging (Art. 62(2)) |
| Points (g) to (n): excessive packaging, reuse, refill, recyclability, recycled content | Application of the rules on penalties laid down by the Member States (Art. 62(3) and Art. 68) |
Paragraph 2 reads verbatim:
"Where the non-compliance referred to in paragraph 1, points (a) to (f), persists, the Member State concerned shall take all appropriate measures to prohibit the making available on the market of the packaging or to ensure that the packaging is recalled or withdrawn from the market."
Missing documentation, therefore, does not wait for the Italian decree. It only waits for an inspection.
How that inspection is triggered
Article 58 governs the surveillance procedure. Market surveillance authorities, upon finding non-compliance, require the economic operator without delay to put an end to it, taking corrective action within a time limit they themselves set.
If corrective action is not taken, or if the non-compliance persists:
"market surveillance authorities shall take all appropriate provisional measures to prohibit the packaging from being made available on their market, to withdraw it or to recall it."
The first paragraph also contains a relevant clarification:
"the authorities responsible for enforcing this Regulation shall follow up on complaints or reports relating to alleged non-compliance of packaging with this Regulation and shall verify that appropriate corrective action has been taken."
Triggering the procedure, in other words, does not depend only on a scheduled inspection. A report is enough to start it.
The consequence that arrives before any of the others
None of the dates on this page governs the moment the documentation is first requested.
The request comes from the customer, who includes it in the tender specification or asks for it before placing the order. It does not wait for 12 February 2027, and it does not involve the authorities.
The undertaking that is unable to provide the declaration loses the order, and it loses it at a time when the penalty regime is still a blank page.
How this page will change
The legislative decree, once published, will bring three pieces of information that do not exist today: the amounts, the competent authorities, and any transitional provisions.
The date of the last update is shown at the top of the page. Until the decree is published, any amounts reported by other sources have no legal basis.
References
Regulation (EU) 2025/40 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2024 on packaging and packaging waste, in OJ L of 22 January 2025. Applicable from 12 August 2026.
- Art. 58 · National procedure for packaging presenting risks (p. 82)
- Art. 62 · Formal non-compliance (pp. 84-85)
- Art. 68 · Penalties (p. 89)
- Arts. 24-29 · Excessive packaging, banned formats, reuse and refill
- Art. 15 · Obligations of manufacturers
- Art. 18 · Obligations of importers
- Annex VII · Technical documentation
Official text: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2025/40/oj
National legislation: Law No 36 of 17 March 2026, Article 14 (2025 European delegation law), in Official Gazette No 70 of 25 March 2026, in force from 9 April 2026.