Ukraine - Draft Law of Ukraine "On Packaging and Packaging Waste”

​Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine announces the Draft Law "On Packaging and Packaging Waste"

The draft Law provides for the introduction of new norms and requirements for:

- Defining the range of entities and their obligations in management of packaging and packaging waste;

- Establishing basic requirements for the introduction of packaging, goods in packaging, and packaging labeling in order to reduce the level of hazardous substances in packaging and to facilitate recycling;

- Requirements for the establishment and operation of Extended Producer Responsibility Organizations (EPROs), their obligations, grounds and procedure for termination of their activities;

- Minimum recycling targets for packaging waste by type of packaging material and packaging category (household/commercial), with their gradual increase as the packaging waste management system develops;

- Creation of registers of producers of packaged goods and EPROs, registration procedure;

- Gradual coverage of the entire territory of the country with separate packaging waste collection systems, interaction of local governments with the EPROs;

- Peculiarities of contracts between the EPROs and business entities in the sphere of packaging waste management;

- Control and liability for violations of legislation in the sphere of packaging and packaging waste management.

Proposed date of entry into force:

The Law shall enter into force on the day following the day of its publication and shall become effective on January 1, 2024, except for:

- Part two of Article 14, which shall enter into force in five years from the date of entry into force of this Law;

- Article 17, part four of Article 21, part one of Article 33, subparagraph "b" of paragraph 1 of part two of Article 35, which shall enter into force on January 1, 2025;

- Part three of Article 14 regarding the withdrawal of goods whose packaging does not meet the requirements of this Law, if such goods were put into circulation before the entry into force of this Law, parts one to five of Article 15, parts one and two of Article 21, paragraph 1 of part two of Article 35, which shall enter into force on January 1, 2026;

- Parts two, six of Article 33, subparagraph "c" of paragraph one of part two of Article 35 of this Law regarding the application of administrative and economic fines to manufacturers of packaged goods (except for manufacturers of service packaging), the weight of packaging waste put into circulation during a calendar year does not exceed 1500 kilograms, which shall come into force on January 1, 2027.