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Reference legislation

The environmental labelling of packaging was first introduced into the national legal system by Legislative Decree 22/97 (better known as “Ronchi Decree”) which implements, among others, Directive 94/62/CE about packaging and packaging waste.

The Legislative Decree 152/2006 (better known as “Testo Unico Ambientale” – TUA), which effectively replaces the Ronchi Decree in the national regulatory framework on the packaging management and packaging waste, in art.219, paragraph 5, “Information criteria for packaging waste management activities” inherits and in part integrates what was already provided by the previous Ronchi Decree on the packaging environmental labelling. However, as you can see in the text of the law, the legislator transfers the determination of the specific indications to be reported on the labels to the issuance of the specific Ministerial Decree, as well as the actual implementation of the packaging labelling obligation. This Ministerial Decree, however, was never issued and the obligation of the environmental packaging labelling remained unimplemented until September 11, 2020. In that date Legislative Decree 116/2020 has been publishedin the Official Italian Gazette. This Decreetransposes the EU Directive 2018/851 on waste and EU Directive 2018/852 on packaging and packaging waste and amends paragraph 5 of art. 219 of Legislative Decree 152/2006 on environmental labelling of packaging.

According to art. 219, paragraph 5 of Legislative Decree 152/2006, as amended by Legislative Decree 116/2020, art. 3 paragraph 3, letter c) “all packaging must be properly labelled in accordance with the methods established by the applicable UNI technical regulation and in compliance with the determination adopted by Commission of the European Union, in order to facilitate the collection, reuse, recovery and recycling of packaging, as well as to provide consumers with correct information on the final destinations of packaging. Producers must indicate, for packaging identification and classification purposes, the nature of the packaging materials used, based on Commission Decision 129/97/EC”. With this wording, the legislator eliminated any reference to national implementation regulation and instead inserted specific references to technical regulation or already existing European decision, thereby making the provisions contained therein immediately applicable starting from September 26, 2020, the date on which the regulation come into force. On November 21, 2022 the Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security, issued the Ministerial Decree n. 360 of September 28, 2022 adopting the “Technical Guidelines for the Environmental Labelling of Packaging” in accordance with the art. 19 paragraph 5 of the Legislative Decree 152/2006 and implementing the above-mentioned European recommendations. The entry into force of the obligation of environmental labelling of packaging is confirmed on January 1, 2023.

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