CEN at work: how the requirements of the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive are bypassed by CEN Standards

The present paper analyses the implementation of the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC) through five standards elaborated by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN): · EN 13428 "Requirements on prevention by "source reduction", · prEN 13429 "Packaging suitable for reuse", · EN 13430 "Requirements on packaging recoverable by material recycling", · EN 13431 "Requirements on packaging recoverable in the form of energy recovery", · N 13432 "Requirements on packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation". It also considers two standards, EN 13193 - on terminology - and the so-called "umbrella standard" EN 13427, which are frequently mentioned by all mandated standards, although they were not the subject of a mandate from the Commission. This analysis concludes that the standards mentioned are not consistent with the general requirements of the Directive. Consequently, the mandate conferred by the Commission to CEN was not properly implemented.