The 'manufacturer' of packaging under the PPWR

Esteemed lawyer Dongo,

Our industry supplies pre-packaged food products with (private-label to a large-scale food distribution chain, which urges us to print "on sales packaging and cartons (primary and secondary packaging, as well as transport supports)” the name and postal address of the “fabbricante" under the PPWR, attributing this role to the industry itself. I ask you for your opinion on this matter.

Letter signed

The lawyer Dario Dongo, Ph.D. in European food law, answers 

First of all, it is important to remember that the owner of the trademark under which the food products are marketed is responsible of the truthfulness and accuracy of the information accompanying them, on the label and in advertising, pursuant to Article 8, paragraph 1, of the Food Information Regulation (EU) No 1169/11. The distributor it is therefore theresponsible operator of information on products marketed under its own brand ( (private-label).

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, PPWR) in turn, as seen:

• introduces new definitions of 'packaging,packaging for sale,multiple packaging,transport packaging';
• establishes a specific liability regime which distinguishes the positions and responsibilities of 'produttore,supplier' and 'fabbricante'.

Definition of 'manufacturer' under the PPWR

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 introduces the figure of 'fabbricante' (art. 3, paragraph 1, point 13) as: 

'the natural or legal person who manufactures packaging or packaged products, however:

1. without prejudice to point (b), where a natural or legal person has packaging designed or manufactured or products packaged with your own name or trademark, regardless of whether any other trademark is visible on the packaging or the packaged products, "manufacturer" means such natural or legal person;

2. where the natural or legal person who has the packaging or the packaged product designed or manufactured under his name or trademark falls within the definition of a micro-enterprise in accordance with Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC applicable on 11 February 2025, and the natural or legal person who supplies the packaging to the natural or legal person who has the packaging designed or manufactured under his name or trademark is located in the same Member State, ‘manufacturer’ means the natural or legal person who supplies the packaging.

The communication from the European Commission

The European Commission has published a guidance communication — C/2026/3084 — to support the correct application of the PPWR by operators and supervisory authorities, starting from 12 August 2026.

In addition to clarifying that the 'manufacturer' is not necessarily the natural or legal person who physically produces the packaging, the Commission highlighted that there are two elements to take into consideration for the purposes of identifying the 'manufacturer':

1. The role in the design or manufacturing of packaging; but above all 
2. The trademark or marking placed on the packaging.

The second element actually absorbs the first in cases where the packaging or the packaged product bear a certain name or trademark, since in the event of this hypothesis the PPWR attributes to the owner of name or brand the role and responsibility of the 'fabbricante' definitively and therefore non-derogably, without admitting evidence to the contrary. The Commission clarifies the ratio: the trademark owner is presumed to exercise decisive power in contractual relationships with its suppliers, such as to allow it to also determine the characteristics of the packaging.

The definition of manufacturer provided by the PPWR also implies the existence of a single manufacturer in a supply chain, be it the physical producer of the packaging or the owner of the name or trademark appearing on it. In light of the above, in the case at hand, the role of "manufacturer" appears to inevitably fall to the distributor, as the owner of the trademark under which the foods are presented and marketed.

Identification of the 'manufacturer' of packaging

Furthermore, pursuant to art. 15.6 of the PPWR, it is the 'manufacturer' to have to guarantee theindication on the packaging — also via a QR code or other data medium —  of its name, registered trade name or registered trademark, as well as the postal address at which it can be contacted and, where available, the electronic means of communication available for this purpose. 

The placing on the label of the references of a different operator from the manufacturer integrates a violation of the standards of the PPWR which cannot be remedied by presenting such operator as 'manufacturer under PPWR' precisely because:

• the identification of the manufacturer is established in a European regulation that does not allow its derogation through agreements between private individuals;
• Any agreement between private individuals that derogates from the aforementioned rules is null and void as it is contrary to mandatory provisions of law.

The distributor, as the owner of the trademark of the prepackaged food placed on the EU market, must therefore ensure that the packaging used for the packaged products marketed under his own (private-label comply with the general and specific regulations applicable to packaging as well as materials and objects intended to come into contact with food (MOCA). 

Risks of complaints about unfair commercial practices

Another aspect worthy of consideration concerns the dual role of ICQRF which authority is responsible for:

• official public controls on the conformity of food labels;
• supervision of the correct application of the Unfair Trading Practices Directive (EU) 2019/633, implemented in Italy with Legislative Decree 198/2021.

It could therefore be possible to configure the risk that ICQRF – during official controls on the labelling of private label products of a distributor, and in the event of a possible detection of a non-compliance linked to the indication as 'manufacturer under PPWR' of a subject other than the one identified as such by the regulation itself – may consider the relevant request as an 'unfair commercial practice' in the agri-food supply chain.

It refers in particular - among the unfair trading practices always prohibited pursuant to Article 5 of Legislative Decree 198/2021, which integrates the blacklist of the UTP Directive with additional cases — the following conduct:

• 'to subordinate the conclusion and execution of contracts and the continuity and regularity of the same commercial relations to the execution of services by the contractors which, by their nature and according to commercial usage, have no connection with the object of either contract';
• 'the adoption of any further unfair commercial conduct that is such also taking into account the complex of commercial relations that characterize the procurement conditions';
• 'the imposition, on one party, of services and performances that are ancillary to the main object of the supply (…) without any objective, direct and logical connection with the supply of the product which is the object of the contract'.

Conclusions

The qualification of 'manufacturer under PPWR' cannot be attributed to the industry supplying products packaged and marketed under the large-scale retail trade brand ( (private-label), as it is in clear conflict with the provisions of the European regulation. Its possible indication on the label does not free the distributor from the role and responsibilities of the manufacturer, precisely because these fall, in the case in question, on the owner of the trademark under which the product is marketed. 

Any agreement between the supplier of products to (private-label and the distributor, where it is agreed to indicate the name of the supplier as the manufacturer on the label, would be null and void due to its contravention of mandatory legal provisions and would expose the retailer at risk of administrative sanctions for violating Articles 7.1, 8.1, and 9.1.h of Regulation (EU) No. 1169/11, for having misled consumers regarding the identity of the responsible operator. This also entails the additional risk of disputes for violations of the PPWR and possible unfair commercial practices, pursuant to Legislative Decree 198/21. 

Dario Dongo 

Credit cover Ulrich Dregler da Pixabay

Normative References 

Communication from the Commission — Guidance document for Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste (C/2026/3084). OJ C, 10.6.2026. ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/3084/oj 

Legislative Decree No. 198 of November 8, 2021. Implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/633 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 17, 2019, on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain, and Article 7 of Law No. 53 of April 22, 2021, on the marketing of agricultural and food products. Consolidated text: July 13, 2024.  https://www.normattiva.it/eli/id/2021/11/30/21G00202/CONSOLIDATED 

Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers. Consolidated text: 01/04/2025. http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2011/1169/2025-04-01 

Regulation (EU) 2025/40 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2024 on packaging and packaging waste, amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and Directive (EU) 2019/904, and repealing Directive 94/62/EC. Consolidated text: 22/01/2025. http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2025/40/2025-01-22 

Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) – Frequently asked questions, Publications Office of the European Union City of Kyiv, Ukraine, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2779/6056528 

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