Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations

To review the current regulations and requirements with a view to:
• Identifying how effective the regulations has been in terms of meeting its objectives.
• Identifying if the regulations has led to greater circularity - for example, essentially the requirements are for packaging to be reusable or recoverable through either
recycling, incineration or composting, But are they really driving change?
• Identifying in what ways could the regulations be improved to drive more circularity.
• Determining whether the regulations have driven packaging producers to innovate, or do they simply just ignore the regulations because of lack of enforcement?
• Reviewing the current enforcement regime including:
- are the current arrangements in England the right ones?
- what are the main reasons behind the apparent lack of enforcement?
- should it transfer to a regulator better able to undertake market surveillance and enforcement?
- what might be suitable changes to the regulations? – for example giving Ministers the powers to issue statutory guidance that packaging producers have to have regard to, plus some core components in the regulations themselves for good packaging design?.
• Determining whether packaging producers adhere to any standards to help them assess whether their packaging conforms to the regulations
• Identifying any specific implications of EU exit including opportunities to amend the regulations and implications of the arrangements for Northern Ireland.
• Making an assessment of internationally recognised standards that conform to the regulations and whether UK companies use such standards.
• Identifying how the regulations might usefully be amended to take account of measures likely to be introduced through extended producer responsibility (EPR)
• Identifying any issues that EPR policy development should be taking into account re the essential requirements regulations and their possible amendment.
• Consider whether closer alignment between the packaging essential requirements and the new EPR regime is possible and desirable.