For packaging and packaging materials, is it correct to say that the EUDR applies or not depending on whether it is used as a product itself or as a container for another product?
1 Answer
Anonymous User
HS Code 4819 covers: ‘cartons boxes, cases, bags, and other packing containers, of paper, paperboard, cellulose wadding, or webs of cellulose fibers; box files, letter trays, and similar articles, of paper or paperboard of a kind used in offices, shops or the like’.
- If any of the above articles are placed on the market or exported as products, rather than as packing for another product, they are covered by the Regulation and therefore the obligations set out in EUDR apply.
- If packing material, as classified under HS code 4819, is used to ‘support, protect or carry’ another product, it is not covered by the Regulation.
HS Code 4415 covers: ‘packaging cases, boxes, crates, drums and similar packings, of wood; cable drums of wood; pallets, box pallets and other load boards, of wood; pallet collars of wood’.
- If any of the above articles are placed on the market or exported as products, they are covered by the Regulation and therefore the obligations set out in EUDR apply.
- Articles under 4415 used exclusively as packing material to support, protect or carry another product placed on the market are not covered by EUDR.
Within these categories, there is a further distinction between packaging that gives a product its ‘essential character’ and packaging which is adapted to a specific product but is not an integral part of the product itself.
In summary, the following is subject to the Regulation:
- Packing material placed on the market as products in their own right.
- Containers which give a product its essential character: e.g. decorative gift boxes.
The following is not subject to the Regulation:
- Packing material presented with goods inside and used exclusively to support, protect or carry another product.
- User manuals accompanying shipments unless they are placed on the market in their own right.