The 'Attached caps' standard is about to be published, What comes next?

The Cetie “Single-Use Plastic (SUP)” group has been working for almost four years on this topic, related to European Directive 2019/904 “on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment”, better known as the Single-Use Plastic Directive (SUPD). Starting in 2018, before the directive was even published, Cetie had begun drawing up a normative response to Article 6 of the directive, which requires plastic bottles to have caps that remain attached to the bottles, from 2024 onwards. On the basis of Cetie’s proposal, and the tests performed by the members of the “SUP” group, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) took the reins to reach the stage of the first official project, at the end of 2020. In line with CEN rules, this project was the subject of an initial “substantive enquiry” in 2021, then a “formal enquiry” was launched in the second quarter of 2022 after evaluation of feedback from participating countries, leading in turn to comments from the different European countries. Once these comments are resolved, the document will finally be ready for publication, entitled “Packaging — Test methods and requirements to demonstrate that plastic caps and lids remain attached to beverage containers”. This publication should take place in just a few months. As this “harmonised” standard is a response to an official request from the Commission made to CEN in 2020, a stage for assessment by the Commission is still necessary before publication in the Official Journal. In the course of these enquiry phases, Cetie’s editorial activity regarding the standard itself was reduced, and the group was able to work on a complementary document, Cetie Guide No. 15, intended to clarify and provide guidance to users of the standard in its practical application. Furthermore, within the group, participants discuss topics relating to regulations and the environment. These topics are increasingly dense and complex, making it difficult for everyone to monitor and analyse. Information sharing is therefore extremely helpful, as is work on interpreting the texts. Tags :

SUSTAINABILITY

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New document

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Development

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Collaboration

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Recycling

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Eco-design

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Directive

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Standardisation

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Plastic cap

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PET bottles