Law No. 249 “On the management of packaging and packaging waste.”

This Law regulates the management of packaging and packaging waste in order to prevent or reduce the impact on the environment. The provisions of this Law are applicable in compliance with the existing specific quality provisions for packaging regarding safety, the health protection and hygiene of packaged products, transport requirements and the rules regarding the management of hazardous waste. All packaging introduced on the market are subject to the provisions of this Law, regardless of the material from which they were made and how they are used in economic, commercial activities, in the households of the population or in any other activities, as well as all packaging waste, regardless of the way of generation. It establishes the measures intended, as a priority, to prevent the generation of packaging waste and, as additional fundamental principles, to reuse packaging, recycling and other forms of valorization of packaging waste and, consequently, to reduce the final disposal of such of waste. Economic operators are obliged to introduce on the market only packaging where the sum of the concentration levels of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium present in the packaging or in its components does not exceed 100 parts/million by weight. Economic operators producing packaging and/or packaged products are obliged to use a marking and identification system for packaging in order to improve the recovery and recycling activities of waste packaging and apply the marking and identification system provided in the Annex No. 3. Economic operators who introduce packaged products to the market in reusable packaging are obliged to inform traders and/or consumers about the cessation of the reuse of a certain type of packaging and to ensure their takeover 6 months after the date of cessation of their use. The management of packaging and packaging waste must be organized in such a way as not to introduce barriers to trade. The mixing of selectively collected packaging waste is prohibited, as well as the entrusting, respectively receiving, with a view to elimination by final storage, of packaging waste, except for those resulting from selective collection or sorting processes, which cannot be recovered or which cannot be incinerated in incineration plants with energy recovery. Reusable packaging is considered packaging waste when removed at the end of its useful life. Reusable packaging is not considered packaging waste when it is returned to be reused. Reusable packaging is not considered packaging placed on the market when it is reused to package a product and made available again.