Revised versions of five European packaging standards have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union C 44 of 2005/02/19 (listed below).
These standards, along with the unrevised EN 13432:2000 'Requirements for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation – Test scheme and evaluation criteria for the final acceptance of packaging', were agreed to support the essential requirements of Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste. They were developed under mandate from the European Commission.
Following the publication of these standards in the Official Journal of the European Union, any packaging that is being produced in compliance with these standards is in conformity with the Essential Requirements of the Directive. This provides producers with full access to all countries in the European Economic Area and avoids that producers will need to demonstrate conformity with the essential requirements.
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EN 13427:2004, Packaging – Requirements for the use of European Standards in the field of packaging and packaging waste
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EN 13428:2004, Packaging – Requirements specific to manufacturing and composition – Prevention by source reduction
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EN 13429:2004, Packaging – Reuse
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EN 13430:2004, Packaging – Requirements for packaging recoverable by material recycling
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EN 13431:2004, Packaging – Requirements for packaging recoverable in the form of energy recovery, including specification of minimum inferior calorific value
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EN 13432:2000, Packaging - Requirements for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation – Test scheme and evaluation criteria for the final acceptance of packaging
Further information is available from the Commission's New Approach website.
Europen (an associations in liaison with CEN) has produced a guideline for the packaging industry which is available through their web site.
Archive
The concept of 'Management Control system' applied to packaging (presentation to the Committee of Art 21 of directive 94/62/EC, October 2000): 'CEN Consultant's presentation on the CEN standards on packaging and the environment'.
Practical implementation of the Packaging and packaging waste ENs (Report of the Workshop, January 2001): 'CEN packaging standards workshop on enforcement of essential requirements'.