New Italian packaging labelling requirements

Outlining details of this new legislation which is likely to affect a number of footwear manufacturers and suppliers.

On 1st January 2023, the delayed decree number 116/2020 relating to environmental labelling requirements finally came into force in Italy, after being postponed from January 2022.

The legislation requires packaging material commonly used in the footwear industry, such as corrugated cardboard, non-corrugated cardboard and paper, to be identified according to the European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC – in these cases, by the codes ‘PAP 20’, ‘PAP 21’ and ‘PAP 22’ respectively. In addition, any packaging intended for end consumers must be clearly labelled in Italian with instructions for its disposal.

Additional information

The Italian Consortium of Packaging Materials (CONAI) provides the following guidance as an example. Non-corrugated or corrugated cardboard boxes that will not come into contact with food and are recyclable according to the technical standards defined by UNI EN 13430:2005 should be labelled with PAP 22 in reference to the material from which they are made. Additional text in Italian should explain to the consumer that the item should be sorted or separated for disposal and to check the arrangements for disposal in their area. There are also recommendations to provide further information, such as emptying and compressing the packaging before disposal. CONAI provides a free access online tool called ‘e-tichetta’ which companies can use in order to check the labelling requirements for particular packaging items.

Penalty fines can be levied on any company bringing product to market that does not comply with the legislation. However, packaging that was already on the market on 31st December 2022 that is not labelled in accordance with the new legislation can continue to be sold. The legislation only affects new items that were placed on the market after 1st January 2023.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 30 of the March 2023 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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