New amendments to the packaging waste legislation were promulgated in the 100th issue of the Bulgarian State Gazette dated 16 December 2022. The amendments are in the Ordinance on Packaging and Packaging Waste (the "Ordinance") and are officially in force as of 20 December 2022. We have summarised the most important amendments below:
Registration requirements
According to the amendments, each person who places packaged goods on the Bulgarian market must request to be registered in a public register maintained by the executive director (or an official authorised by him) of the Executive Environment Agency ("ExEA"). The registration should be done within one month before the start of an activity defined as "placing packaged goods on the market".
According to the Ordinance, "placing on the market" means the first release of a product at the disposal of another person, free of charge or against payment, with the aim of distributing the product and/or using it on the territory of Bulgaria, as well as the import and release of the product on the territory of Bulgaria by a given person for their own commercial, industrial or professional activities.
Until 20 February 2022, persons who place packaged goods on the market must provide the following information to the executive director of the ExEA in order to fulfil the newly introduced registration requirements:
- name and Unified Identification Code;
- trademarks that the person uses in Bulgaria (where applicable);
- mailing address;
- contact person;
- type and material of the packaging the person releases on the Bulgarian market;
- manner of fulfilling the obligations (individually or through a collective system);
- method of sale used.
Pictograms now voluntary
According to the amended transitional and final provisions, the pictogram for recycling the packaging and for the type of material from which it is made ("chasing arrows") and the pictogram for the separate collection of packaging waste ("tidy man") are to be voluntarily added to the packaging of the products released on the Bulgarian market.
NB! The abbreviation and the code identifying the material from which a given packaging is made remain mandatory.
Separate waste collection systems
Persons who market packaged goods that are single-use plastic products are responsible for establishing and implementing separate waste collection systems.
We expect the competent authority to provide guidance on the implementation of these amendments at the beginning of 2023.
authors: Alexandra Minioti, Elena Todorova
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