Banned From 2030: The Annex V Format Restrictions Explained

Article 25 takes a different instrument from the rest of the regulation: instead of grading, pricing or labelling a format, it removes it. From 1 January 2030, economic operators may not place on the market the packaging formats and uses listed in Annex V: single-use plastic grouped packaging at the point of sale (the multipack film); single-use plastic packaging for fresh fruit and vegetables under 1.5 kg; single-use plastic packaging for food and drink filled and consumed on HORECA premises; single-use plastic portion packs for condiments, preserves, sauces, coffee creamers and sugar in HORECA; single-use plastic miniature toiletry packaging in the accommodation sector; and very lightweight plastic carrier bags, save the narrow hygiene and loose-food cases.

Each listing carries its own scope edges and necessity qualifications, and a parallel wave of single-use items is restricted through the Single-Use Plastics Directive amendment from February 2029. This station works the list item by item, then the alternatives, the exemptions' evidence, and the exit programme.

The listed formats share a profile the other instruments handle badly: very high unit counts, very low per-unit value, high litter and leakage propensity, and - decisive - a demonstrated alternative already operating at scale somewhere in the Union (paper bands and board sleeves for multipacks, bulk and paper for produce, serviceware and dispensers in HORECA, refillable amenities in hotels, the bag charges' lesson for carriers). A grade would let the format persist at a price; the legislator's judgement, format by format, was that persistence is not the goal where the substitute is proven. Businesses should read the list as the template for its own future: the review clause looks for the same profile - numerous, leaky, substitutable - in the next candidates.

The six listings each get a guide: scope, edges, the alternative in practice. Then the cross-cutting guides: the complying alternatives assessed honestly (several merely move the burden and deserve the scrutiny), the necessity exemptions and their evidence standard, member-state restrictions that go beyond Annex V today, the SUPD-amendment wave of 2029, and the portfolio exit programme that turns a legal list into a managed transition rather than a 2029 cliff.

Annex V's 2030 line is the firmest of three restriction dates this part of the regulation carries. Before it, the Single-Use Plastics Directive amendment brings its own listed items into restriction from 12 February 2029 (the SUPD wave has its own guide in this station). Beside it, member states' pre-existing format restrictions - several states banned some of these formats years ago under national law - continue to govern their markets until the Union list lands, and in defined respects beyond it. And behind it stands the review: the list is designed to grow where the profile fits. A portfolio programme keyed only to the Annex V date, ignoring the 2029 wave and the national layer, will be ambushed twice on the road to a deadline it thought it had met.

Every listing converts into the same programme shape, worked fully in the exit guide: inventory the exposure (SKUs, volumes, revenue, tooling) per listing; decide per line - redesign to an alternative format, convert to a service model, or exit the line - with the alternatives assessed honestly rather than hopefully; sequence the conversions against tooling, artwork and refit calendars so the estate converts on planned changeovers; and manage the stock and contract run-out so the last lawful placing is a decision, not a discovery. Run the programme from 2026 and each listing is a project; discover it in 2029 and each is a crisis with the same content.

Read the annex one final way: as the most specific design brief the regulation issues. It does not say 'use less plastic' - it says these six format families, in these uses, end on this date, because their substitutes are proven and their profile is indefensible at scale. Portfolio teams should pin the list where design decisions are made, not where legal summaries are filed, because every quarter a format is proposed somewhere in the business that the list has already answered. The cheapest compliance in the whole regulation is a design brief pinned to the right wall.