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A four-week public consultation has now officially opened, with a deadline of August 5, 2026.

PPWR imposes on all companies placing packaging on the EU market a full chain of obligations spanning substances, design, and recyclability. Medical device companies are no bystanders — although, given the special nature of their products, the primary packaging in direct contact with the product enjoys certain relaxations with regard to "recyclability" and "recycled content," core responsibilities such as minimization, hazardous substances, labeling, EPR, and the Declaration of Conformity apply in full. There is therefore no such thing as a complete exemption for medical device packaging under the PPWR framework.

The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR, Regulation (EU) 2025/40), will become mandatorily applicable across the entire EU from August 12, 2026, replacing the 94/62/EC Directive that has been in force for nearly 30 years. PPWR is upgraded into a directly applicable regulation and it imposes full-chain requirements on all packaging placed on the EU marke

Recently, many exporters to the U.S. have been required to comply with GCC (General Certificate of Conformity) requirements. More importantly, the CPSC issued a final rule on January 8, 2025, mandating that from July 8, 2026, covered imported consumer products must be submitted via mandatory electronic filing (eFiling) of certificate data.

On 12 August 2026, the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR, Regulation (EU) 2025/40) will become fully mandatory. This is not a "recommendatory" guidance document. It is a regulation with direct legal force, uniformly applicable to all EU Member States. From that date onwards, packaging that fails to meet requirements – including excessive heavy metals, non-compliant PFAS levels, incomplete EPR registration, or missing mandatory labels – may face product delisting, customs detention, heavy fines, or even exclusion from the EU market.

On June 19, 2026, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee signed House Bill H7734. This bill amends the state's Consumer PFAS Ban Act of 2024.

On June 5, 2026, the European Commission published the Guidance Document on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).

China's mandatory national standard for heavy metals in printing inks, GB 46997-2025 "Limit of Heavy Metals in Printing Inks", was officially released on December 31, 2025, and will be fully implemented on January 1, 2027.

The new version of the GB 30981 series of standards was officially released on May 30, 2025, and has been formally implemented on June 1, 2026. The implementation of these new standards will have a profound impact on the coatings industry.

On June 3, 2026, ECHA released a briefing on the SEAC consultation for the PFAS restriction proposal, receiving 3,511 comments within a 60-day period.