France: packaging compliance update
by Ellen Thornton at 08:34 in Emerging, Packaging
Citeo, which was formed due to the merging of Ecoemballages and the paper scheme Ecofolio, is the packaging scheme in France covering household packaging only. The scheme applies bonuses and penalties for certain actions, for example, a bonus of 8% is rewarded for reduction of the weight of packaging, removal of black carbon dye in plastic packaging and replacing complex plastic trays by mono-resin trays, to name a few.
There are 4 different types of declaration that companies can submit:
1. The declaration by Consumer Sales Unit (CSU) – this considers the customer sales unit, i.e. the unit that the customer buys as the reference unit, rather than the individual packaging units. The total contribution of the CSU is calculated by adding the contribution by weight and the contribution per unit together and then applying any applicable bonuses or penalties. The contribution by weight is given by fees per kg for different material categories. The contribution per unit, otherwise known as your personal rate, is an average share of contributions per unit of your last detailed declaration, calculated at the 2016 rate.
2. The detailed statement uses each packaging unit of the consumer sales unit as the reference unit. However, this is the last year that this type of declaration will be accepted.
3. The sector statement is available for businesses who market up to 500,000 CSU's per year. The tariffs are based on a lump sum per product family which takes lot less time. The calculation is made by multiplying the quantity of consumer units by the rate per unit per product family.
4. A flat fee declaration of €80 is available for companies who market less than 10,000 CSU's per year. For this declaration, no figures are required in reporting.
Submission date: 1st March 2018 for 2017 data.
Changes for 1st March 2018 submission: Since 2016, the sectoral declaration has now been extended to companies who market 500,000 CSU's per year, whereas this had previously been 180,000 consumer sales units per year. This year's submission is the last one that will accept the detailed declaration. New types of declaration introduced in 2016 to be implemented from January 2017: the flat fee declaration of €80, the declaration per CSU and the sector statement. New bonuses have been introduced for improving recyclability, removal of a packaging unit for a CSU, QR code bonus and media campaigns.
Changes that will apply to 2018 data for the March 2019 submission: The detailed declaration will no longer be valid. The contributions by weight will be different for the 2019 submission and plastics will have one contribution instead of being split into 3 categories as they previously were. The rates per unit per product category which are used for the sector statement have changed for the 2019 submission also. Furthermore, there are two new bonuses: a 12% bonus can be applied to packaging which is already covered by the national sorting instructions; a bonus of 8% is granted to rigid plastic packaging that can join one of the existing recycling channels that is already in use. Other penalties applied for 2018 are: a surcharge of 100% of the total contribution of the CSU which is included in the sorting instructions but without a recycling process; a surcharge of 50% is applies to PET packaging with contrast media minerals; an increase of 10% of the contribution to the weight is applied when paper materials are printed with inks made with addition of mineral oils.
If you need any help with your submission to Citeo, please contact us here.
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