Portugal - Porposed Amendment on the Decree-Law No 152-D/2017 on Waste Management

​This draft legislation is the fifth update to Decree-Law No 152-D/2017 of December 11, 2017, introducing the requirement to mark reusable packaging and packaging managed under the deposit system, as well as the requirement to mark recyclable packaging with the indication of its appropriate destination. The draft Decree-Law also provides for the obligation for waste treatment operators to prove annually to the licensing entity that they have complied with the qualification requirements and applicable standards by means of a document issued by qualified verifiers.

- Article 23(17) - Reusable packaging must be marked, the symbol and rules for which are determined by ministerial implementing order by the members of government responsible for the areas of the economy and the environment, after consulting the representative associations of the sectors involved.

- Article 28 - Reusable and non-reusable packaging, packaging managed under the deposit system and recyclable packaging must be marked:

- Paragraph 2 - Without prejudice to paragraph 9, non-reusable primary packaging from other Member States of the European Union or from third countries that have been marked with a specific symbol at source, may be placed on the market with this symbol.

- Paragraph 3 - Packaging managed under the deposit system referred to in Article 23-C must be marked with the symbol that will be defined to this end.

- Paragraph 4 - Packaging must indicate the nature of the packaging material(s) used for the purposes of identification and classification by the respective industry in accordance with the identification system established in Commission Decision No 97/129/EC of January 28, 1997, whose framework is set out in Annex IX to this Decree-Law.

- Paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 - Primary packaging, secondary packaging intended for the consumer and recyclable packaging placed on the market must be marked with the indication of their appropriate destination, namely the color of the ecopoint where they must be placed, in accordance with the terms to be determined. The indication must be printed in a visible, legible and indelible form and may be presented by pictograms, written text, or both.
 
- Paragraph 9 - From the date of entry into force of the obligation under paragraph 5, the placing on the market of recyclable and reusable packaging marked with the tidy-man symbol will be prohibited.