Who is the packaging manufacturer in contract production?

The brand is responsible for the packaging

PPWR calls the company responsible for the packaging the manufacturer. If you have production commissioned under your own name or trademark, you are the manufacturer (Article 3(13)), even if another company's mark also appears on the packaging.

A supplement or cosmetics brand is therefore responsible for the packaging even without its own production line. It needs technical documentation and has to sign the EU declaration of conformity (Article 15(2)).

Contract manufacturers

A company that manufactures and packs your product on commission is not the manufacturer, as long as the product goes out under your brand. The obligations stay with you.

That said, the contract manufacturer is usually the one buying the bottles, closures and films, so it has the supplier contact and the documents. The simplest fix is to set out in the contract what it has to pass on to you, and when.

Importers

An importer is a company established in the Union that brings in packaging from outside it (Article 3(17)). If you bring in a finished product under someone else's brand, say from China or the UK, you are the importer.

An importer does not prepare the technical documentation, but must verify that the manufacturer has done so (Article 18(2)). It also keeps a copy of the declaration for 5 years, or 10 years for reusable packaging, and shows the documents within 10 days of an authority's request (Article 18(7) and (8)).

If the product you import carries your own brand, you take on all the obligations of a manufacturer (Article 21).

Wholesalers and retailers

A wholesaler or shop selling someone else's products in unopened packaging is a distributor (Article 3(18)) and does not prepare technical documentation.

That changes in two situations (Article 21): selling under its own brand, or changing the packaging, for example repacking goods into its own jars or gift sets.

The micro-enterprise exception

A company employing fewer than 10 people with a turnover of up to EUR 2 million is a micro-enterprise. If it buys packaging from a supplier in the same country, the supplier takes on the manufacturer's obligations (Article 3(13)(b)). We cover the details in our article on supplier declarations.

"Manufacturer" is not the same as "producer"

PPWR uses two terms that sound similar. The manufacturer is responsible for what the packaging is: its composition, technical documentation and declaration of conformity.

A producer, under extended producer responsibility rules, is responsible for registration, reporting and fees on packaging placed on a given country's market (Article 3(15)). In Poland this runs through the BDO register; other member states run their own national systems. The same company often holds both roles, but not always.

This matters when you sell across borders. Whoever dispatches products straight to customers in another EU country is a producer in that country too (Article 3(15)(d)). That is why marketplaces ask for a separate EPR number per country.

What to put in the contract with a contract manufacturer

The obligations sit with the brand, the documents with the manufacturer. The contract should connect the two.

• A list of the packaging components and the supplier of each one.
• An obligation to pass on the declaration and test results for every component.
• An obligation to notify you before changing a supplier, material, colour or weight.
• A deadline for handing over documents on your request, shorter than 10 days.
• The language versions of documents you need if you sell abroad.