European Directive 94/62

Only some EU Member States introduced measures on packaging and packaging waste management with a view to reducing their environmental impacts.  Serious Internal Market problems arose when cheap secondary materials from countries with recycling schemes that provided funding for collection and recycling appeared on the markets of other Member States where no such schemes were in place. Collection and recycling activities that relied on cost recovery through the sale of secondary raw material were threatened by collapse.

For this reason, economic operators and Member States approached the Commission to introduce comprehensive legislation on packaging. In 1992, the Commission came forward with a Proposal for a Council Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste. Following a prolonged discussion in the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, Directive 94/62/EC was adopted.