The legal experts also criticise procedural infringements because the Parliament and Council have not taken all relevant factors into account in their proposals. In a joint appeal, the associations EuPC, IK and Elipso, which commissioned the legal assessment, call on the Member States and the European Parliament to remove the material-specific special rules in the ongoing trilogue negotiations in order to create legal and planning certainty for companies.
The assessment by the international law firm Dentons concludes that all of the special rules for plastic packaging and exemptions for other materials analysed most likely violate the EU principle of equal treatment because with a high probability they discriminate against plastic packaging. Such discrimination is counterproductive to the objectives of the PPWR because it is very likely to lead to environmental problems by replacing light and easily recyclable plastic packaging with heavier and less recyclable packaging materials, causing an increase in the amount of packaging waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
"Council and Parliament have so far ignored the existing scientific facts and findings on the benefits of plastic packaging in a climate-neutral circular economy," criticises Bernard Merkx, Director General of EuPC. "To make matters worse, the large number of plastic discriminations in the PPWR completely reverses the principle of material neutrality. The report shows the legislator clear limits," says Merkx.
