private-label package

package for vending machines | vending machine pack

private-label packaging

display carton for both shelf and counter use

fingertip dispenser | pressure pack aerosol can | pressurized dispenser

carton dispenser

coin-operated personal service machine operator | photo booth operator | vending machine operator | vending route operator

afterburner pressurizing and dump valve | AB pressurizing and dump valve | AB P and D valve

The changeover from a global system for the collection of non-reusable packaging to a deposit and return system causes every producer and distributor using such packaging to incur, apart from marking and labelling costs, additional costs connected with organisation of the taking back of packaging, the refunding of sums paid by way of deposit and any balancing of those sums between distributors.

However, the Court finds that legislation, such as the German Verpackungsverordnung, that makes the establishment of a deposit and return system dependent on a packaging reuse rate, which is certainly advantageous from an ecological point of view, complies with the principle of proportionality only if, while encouraging the reuse of packaging, it gives the producers and distributors concerned a reasonable transitional period to adapt thereto and ensures that, at the time when the packaging-waste management system changes, every producer or distributor concerned can actually participate in an operational system.

Finally, in Case C-309/02 the Court answers in the negative the question of the Verwaltungsgericht Stuttgart as to whether Directive 94/62 confers on producers and distributors using non-reusable packaging who are permitted to fulfil their deposit and return obligations by participating in a global packaging-collection system the right to continue to participate in a global system of that kind in order to meet their legal obligations.

In Germany, producers and distributors of drinks in non-reusable packaging are, in principle, subject to an obligation to charge a deposit for, and accept the return of, the packaging .