In brief

  • Crystal glass packaging may exceed the European heavy metals limit until 31 December 2029, but under five new conditions and with manufacturing stopped a year earlier. Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2026/1948 inserts three new articles into Decision 2001/171/EC: 5a, 5b and 5c. Lead may be melted into glass only until 31 December 2028, and 2029 is left exclusively for finishing, filling, labelling, distribution and sale. The act enters into force on 29 October 2026, the day following its publication.
  • Those concerned are crystal glass packaging producers and, in Romania, the companies that sell products packaged in crystal. The duty to tell the buyer that the packaging can be returned free of charge rests, under Article 5c(2), on „economic operators placing products in crystal glass packaging on the market”, that is on the importers and distributors of perfumes, cosmetics and luxury spirits, not on the glassworks that moulded the flacon. Glass recyclers are affected from another direction: returned crystal has to find its way back to the producer named on the permanent marking, so it has no place in the ordinary cullet stream.
  • The old exemption was unconditional and open ended, the new one is conditional and expires. Until Directive 94/62/EC was repealed, Article 11(2) took packaging made entirely of lead crystal glass out of the limit altogether. Regulation (EU) 2025/40, which replaced the directive, did not carry that exemption over, and the Commission is now restoring it on a new legal basis, Article 5(8) of the regulation, with an expiry date and with treatment, marking, information and record keeping obligations.
  • Romanian law still says something else, and the gap is visible to the naked eye. Law no. 249/2015 exempts, in Article 8(2), „packaging made only of lead crystal glass”, with no condition and no deadline, and the national legislative portal does not show it as repealed. The European regulation applies directly, so anyone who checks their position only in national law reads an exemption that no longer exists in that form.
Act: Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2026/1948 of 12 August 2026 amending Decision 2001/171/EC as regards crystal glass packaging
Published: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, 2026/1948 of 28 October 2026; CELEX 32026D1948
Adopted: 12 August 2026, in Brussels, by the European Commission, under Article 5(8) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40
In force from: 29 October 2026, the day following the date of publication

If you sell perfumes, cosmetics or spirits packaged in crystal flacons and bottles, from 29 October 2026 you have a new duty towards the buyer and a firm deadline beyond which the goods can no longer be sourced in that packaging. Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2026/1948 restores, on a new legal basis, the right of crystal glass packaging to go above the threshold of 100 mg/kg for the sum of the four regulated heavy metals, but ties it to five conditions and gives it an expiry date. The mechanism is the one the Commission also used for compressed air dryers that use fluorinated gases: not an exemption without end, but a closed window, with traceability obligations running the whole length of it.

The threshold at issue is the one in Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste: the sum of the concentration levels of lead, cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium present in the packaging or in its components must not exceed 100 mg/kg. Recalculated, that threshold is 0.01% by weight, one hundredth of a percent. Lead crystal has no way of fitting inside it, and the act says so outright in recital (5): such packaging „contains, by definition, high concentrations of lead oxide”. How high is clear from the rules that define the material. Government Decision no. 134/2002, republished in the Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial), Part I, no. 650 of 12 September 2008, the act by which Romania transposed Directive 69/493/EEC, requires in Article 2 at least 24% lead oxide for „lead crystal” and at least 30% for „full lead crystal”. Between 24% and 0.01% the ratio is 2,400 to 1, and between 30% and 0.01% it is 3,000 to 1. No tuning of the recipe covers a distance of that order, so the only legal way out was the derogation; a compliance period would have had nothing to work on.

Until Directive 94/62/EC was repealed the regime was simple and generous. Directive 94/62/EC set the same limit in Article 11(1), and paragraph (2) lifted it entirely for packaging made wholly of lead crystal glass. The exemption had no deadline, no conditions and asked nobody for any record. Regulation (EU) 2025/40, which repealed the directive, did not carry it over. The Commission notes this in recital (5) and solves it through the act published on 28 October 2026, using the empowerment in Article 5(8) of the regulation, which allows it to set conditions for a derogation covering packaging kept within a closed and controlled loop.

The drafting technique deserves a note, because it sends the reader somewhere other than where he would expect. The Commission did not write a new, free standing decision. It amended Decision 2001/171/EC, an act of 19 February 2001 adopted on the basis of Article 11(3) of the directive that has since been repealed, and one that until now dealt with something entirely different: the conditions under which glass packaging may exceed the limit where the exceedance results from the use of recycled glass. Between the adoption of the basic decision and the publication of this amendment 9,382 days went by, that is 25 years and eight months. The consolidated text of Decision 2001/171/EC holds, from 29 October 2026, two unrelated regimes, recycled glass and lead crystal, under a title that mentions only the first and that cites a directive no longer in force.

The most awkward consequence of the act lies outside it, in the distance between the European rule and Romanian law. Law no. 249/2015 on the management of packaging and packaging waste sets the same limit in Article 8(1), expressed as „100 parts per million by weight”, which is exactly 100 mg/kg, and in paragraph (2) exempts „packaging made only of lead crystal glass”, referring for the definition to Article 2 of Government Decision no. 134/2002. The legislative portal does not mark the law as repealed, and the last consolidated version listed there is the one of 3 November 2023. A producer or a distributor who checks his position in national law therefore finds a permanent and unconditional exemption, while the rule that actually applies from 29 October 2026 comes with a deadline, with conditions and with records. The penalty for exceeding the limit stays in Romanian law, in Article 26(1)(e), between 30,000 and 50,000 lei, and the body that establishes the breach, under paragraph (2)(a) of the same article, is the National Environmental Guard.

What it changes in practice

Two calendars, not one. Article 5a(3) says that crystal glass packaging containing lead, whether intentionally introduced or arriving through residual contamination, „may only be manufactured until 31 December 2028”. Article 5a(4) lets packaging manufactured before that date go through finishing operations, including cold glass working, and be filled, labelled, distributed and placed on the market until 31 December 2029. The derogation itself, in paragraph (2), expires on 31 December 2029. From entry into force to the end of melting there are 794 days, that is two years and two months; from entry into force to the complete closing of the window there are 1,159 days, three years and two months. The year 2029 is, from beginning to end, a run off period for stock already poured.

Five conditions, each with a different holder. Article 5b requires that lead be intentionally introduced only insofar as necessary for manufacturing, that the packaging undergo a dealkalisation treatment or an equivalent process forming a surface barrier that limits the migration of lead into the contents, and that producers support the shift to lead free crystal by ceasing to manufacture crystal with intentionally introduced lead by 31 December 2028. Article 5c adds the permanent marking identifying the producer, the information given to final users about free return, the transfer of returned packaging to the producer named on the marking, and the keeping of records demonstrating that the closed loop works. The first condition in Article 5c, the marking, falls on the producer; the second, the information, on whoever sells the packaged product; the last, the records, on the producer again.

The company that sells the product picks up a duty that was never its own. Article 5c(2) is the only provision of the act not addressed to the glassworks: „economic operators placing products in crystal glass packaging on the market shall make available to final users information on the possibility to return such packaging free of charge for recycling”. In Romania that means the importers and distributors of perfumes, cosmetic products and luxury spirits, the shops that sell them, and any local bottler who picks a crystal flacon for a limited edition. The act does not say in what form the information is to be given, nor who bears the cost of the return, nor how long the return channel has to stay open.

Glass recycling gets complicated exactly where it used to be simplest. Paragraphs (3) and (4) of Article 5c build a loop in which returned crystal packaging travels, directly or through established commercial channels, to the producer identified by the marking and can be fed back into the manufacturing process it came from. Recital (7) explains why the separation is essential: furnaces, cullet streams and production environments already carry residual lead contamination from historical production processes, and meeting the threshold of 100 mg/kg calls for dedicated, lead free infrastructure. Crystal that goes into the ordinary glass bank leaves its own loop and carries lead into a stream that has to stay clean.

Verification stays on request, not on a date. The only record keeping obligation sits in Article 5c(5): crystal glass producers keep appropriate records demonstrating the operation of the closed and controlled loop and make them available to the competent authorities and to the Commission „upon request”. There is no periodic reporting, no minimum content for the records, no retention period and no date on which the Commission would receive, of its own motion, a picture of how the transition is going. For the Romanian enforcement authority this means the evidence has to be asked for, it does not arrive.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

The exemption has become a derogation. The difference is not one of vocabulary. Under the old Article 11(2) of Directive 94/62/EC the limits „did not apply” to lead crystal glass packaging, so that packaging stood outside the rule. The new Article 5a(2) says that it „is authorised to exceed” the levels, „provided that it complies with Articles 5b and 5c”. The packaging therefore remains inside the rule, and the exceedance is allowed only for as long as the five conditions are met. A piece of crystal packaging that has not been through dealkalisation, or that carries no permanent marking, does not benefit from the derogation and falls back under the general rule of 100 mg/kg, which it cannot meet.

The scope widened on one side and narrowed on the other. The old exemption covered packaging made „entirely” of lead crystal glass. The new definition in Article 2, point (2), of Decision 2001/171/EC covers packaging made „entirely or partly” from the categories of crystal glass listed in Annex I to Directive 69/493/EEC, and recital (11) confirms the intention, speaking of packaging „made entirely or partially of crystal”. A perfume flacon with a crystal body and components of other glass now falls under the same rule, which until now was arguable. On the time axis, by contrast, the scope narrowed sharply: what was permanent now has its last day on 31 December 2029.

The definitions move from the directive into the regulation. Article 2 of Decision 2001/171/EC has been replaced in full. It now refers to the definitions in Article 3 of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 and adds four notions of its own: „intentionally introduced”, „crystal glass packaging”, „crystal glass producer” and „closed and controlled loop”. The first of them carries a clarification with practical bite: using recycled materials as feedstock, where some parts may contain regulated metals, does not count as intentional introduction. In other words, lead that comes in with the cullet does not count towards Article 5b(1), although it does count towards Article 5a(3), which bans manufacturing after 31 December 2028 for both intentional and residual lead.

A detail of definition that widens the rule without saying so. There are four categories of crystal glass behind the new definition, and the Romanian transposition in Government Decision no. 134/2002 renders them as follows: „full lead crystal”, with at least 30% lead oxide, „lead crystal”, with at least 24%, „crystallin glass”, with at least 10% lead, zinc, barium or potassium oxide, and „crystal glass, sonorous”, with at least 10% lead, barium or potassium oxide. For the last two categories the percentage may be reached, on the wording of the text, with those oxides „singly or together”, so a crystallin glass made only with barium or potassium oxide, without a gram of lead, is still „crystal glass packaging” for the purposes of the new definition. It needs no derogation, since it meets the limit of 100 mg/kg, and the condition built into Article 5a(2) leaves it outside the obligations of Articles 5b and 5c. On this point Romanian law is more precise than the European definition: Article 8(2) of Law no. 249/2015 speaks of lead crystal glass, not of all four categories.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • It closes a legal vacuum opened by the repeal of Directive 94/62/EC: without this act, lead crystal packaging stayed under a limit it cannot meet, and manufacturing it became quite simply unlawful.
  • It sets, for the first time, a date of exit. The exemption of 1994 had no deadline, and industry had no legal reason to invest in lead free recipes. According to the preamble, the investments began anyway, and the act now gives them a firm horizon.
  • It ties the derogation to a treatment that protects health, not merely to administrative traceability. The dealkalisation required by Article 5b(2) forms a silica barrier on the inner surface, and recital (10) invokes studies by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), according to which the treatment substantially reduces the migration of lead into the contents and remains effective over long periods.
  • It makes the packaging identifiable. The permanent marking in Article 5c(1) means a bottle found at a collection point can be sent to the producer that poured it, instead of ending up in the ordinary cullet stream.
  • It avoids destroying stock that has already been paid for. Recital (12) says plainly that a shorter period would have risked „the destruction of packaging already produced and paid for, without contributing to an earlier industrial transition”, and the additional twelve months cover the commercial cycles of luxury perfume, cosmetics and spirits.

What remains a problem

  • The party that has to prove the closed loop works does not control the links that make it work. The records under Article 5c(5) are the crystal glass producer’s, but informing the buyer is somebody else’s job, and the transfer of returned packaging runs through commercial channels the producer does not administer.
  • The information duty is written without content. Article 5c(2) requires information on the possibility of free return to be made available, but says nothing about where, in what form, who pays for the return transport, or what happens if that possibility does not in fact exist in the country where the product was sold.
  • The act does not settle the position of packaging manufactured between the moment the limit in the regulation became applicable and 29 October 2026. The decision enters into force the day after publication and carries no retroactivity clause, even though recital (12) invokes legal certainty precisely.
  • There is no reporting date before the derogation expires. The Commission will learn how the transition went only if it asks for the records, and the act neither obliges it to ask nor provides for any review before 31 December 2029.
  • The consolidated text of Decision 2001/171/EC becomes hard to read. The title remains the one of 2001, about recycled glass and about a repealed directive, and anyone looking for the crystal regime in European legislation has no way of guessing from the title that it sits there.
  • In Romania, national law still says something else. Article 8(2) of Law no. 249/2015 grants an unconditional exemption with no deadline, and the penalty in Article 26 applies by reference to Article 8(1), not to Article 5 of the European regulation.

Practical advice

  1. If you sell products packaged in crystal, write somewhere visible to the buyer that the packaging can be returned free of charge for recycling, and say where. The duty under Article 5c(2) belongs to the company that places the product on the market, not to the glassworks, and the act gives you no grace period: it applies from 29 October 2026.
  2. Ask your packaging supplier whether the flacons you buy carry the permanent marking required by Article 5c(1) and whether they have been through the dealkalisation treatment in Article 5b(2). Without those, the packaging falls outside the derogation, and the goods you put inside reach the shelf in non compliant packaging.
  3. Write the date of 31 December 2028 into your supply contracts, not the one in 2029. The year 2029 is reserved, by Article 5a(4), for finishing and selling stock already manufactured, not for a fresh order.
  4. If you will need crystal packaging after 2029, start the conversation about lead free options now. Recital (7) says that several producers have developed and tested lead free compositions, so the counterpart exists; what is missing, according to the same recital, is the dedicated production infrastructure.
  5. Tell the company that collects your waste that crystal packaging does not go into the ordinary glass stream. Under Article 5c(3) it has to reach the producer identified by the marking, and recital (7) explains why lead contamination of the cullet is a problem for everyone else.
  6. Keep records of quantities, batches and the route the packaging travels, even if you are not a crystal glass producer. The mandatory records are the producer’s, but he cannot compile them without the data coming from downstream, and an inspection by the National Environmental Guard looks at what you can show, not at who was obliged to show it.
  7. Do not rely on Article 8(2) of Law no. 249/2015. Its text, as it appears on the legislative portal, has not been brought into line with Regulation (EU) 2025/40, and the regulation applies directly, without transposition.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still buy perfume or cognac in a crystal bottle after 2029?
Yes, if the flacon was manufactured by 31 December 2028 and placed on the market by 31 December 2029. The act does not forbid a consumer from holding, using or reselling packaging already in his hands. What closes on 31 December 2029 is the right to place on the market lead crystal packaging above the limit of 100 mg/kg.
Is crystal packaging dangerous to health?
The act does not say so and does not forbid its use. It says, in Article 5b(2), that packaging benefiting from the derogation has to be treated by dealkalisation or by an equivalent process, so that a surface barrier forms which limits the migration of lead into the contents. Recital (10) states that studies by the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission indicate a substantial reduction in migration and an effectiveness that holds over long periods of use.
Who has to tell me that I can return the flacon free of charge?
The economic operator that placed the product on the market, under Article 5c(2). In practice the importer, the distributor or the company whose brand is on the product. The form of the information is set nowhere, so it may appear on the label, on the secondary packaging, on a website or at the shelf.
What do I do if I want to return a crystal flacon?
You hand it in through the channel indicated by the company that sold the product. Article 5c(3) provides that returned packaging is transferred, directly or through established commercial channels, to the crystal glass producer identified by the permanent marking. What matters just as much is what not to do: crystal does not go into the ordinary glass bank, because it carries lead into a stream that has to stay below 100 mg/kg.
Is Law no. 249/2015 still valid?
The legislative portal does not show it as repealed, and the last consolidated version listed there is the one of 3 November 2023. The problem lies elsewhere: Article 8(2) grants an unconditional exemption with no deadline for packaging made only of lead crystal glass, while the rule applicable from 29 October 2026 comes with a deadline and with conditions. Regulation (EU) 2025/40 applies directly, so it prevails.
How big is the fine and who issues it?
For exceeding the heavy metals limit in packaging, Law no. 249/2015 provides in Article 26(1)(e) a fine of between 30,000 and 50,000 lei, and paragraph (2)(a) of the same article gives the finding to the National Environmental Guard. The European act sets no penalties; they stay in national law.
Does the decision also apply to packaging exported outside the Union?
The derogation concerns placing on the Union market, and recital (9) notes that a significant part of the production of lead crystal packaging is exported outside the Union. For those quantities the rules of the country of destination apply, but manufacturing them in the Union is subject to the same deadline of 31 December 2028 in Article 5a(3), which speaks of manufacturing, not of the market of sale.
Why did the act appear in the Official Journal of the European Union only on 28 October, when it was adopted on 12 August 2026?
Between adoption in Brussels and publication 77 days went by, and 78 up to entry into force. The interval goes unexplained in the text, and a delegated act passes, between adoption and publication, through the scrutiny procedure laid down in the empowering regulation. The practical effect of the delay is that the derogation became applicable only on 29 October 2026, with no provision covering the earlier period.

Errors and inconsistencies in the published text

  • Article 1, point (2), Article 5a(3) and (4): the output of 31 December 2028 has no basis for being put to use. Paragraph (3) allows manufacturing „only until 31 December 2028”, wording that includes that very day, and Article 5b(3) uses the same construction for the producers’ duty to cease manufacturing. Paragraph (4), by contrast, grants the right to finishing, filling, labelling, distribution and placing on the market until 31 December 2029 only to packaging „manufactured before 31 December 2028”. A batch melted on 31 December 2028 itself is therefore lawfully manufactured, yet does not fall within the category that paragraph (4) allows to reach the market. The two provisions can be read in two ways that lead to opposite conclusions for the same goods: either „before” is read as „until”, or a full day of lawful production is left with no right to be put to use. In a sector where, according to recital (12), the point is to avoid destroying packaging already produced and paid for, the difference is not theoretical.

Editorial analysis

The act solves a real problem correctly, and it solves it with the right instrument. The repeal of Directive 94/62/EC left a material defined by law as containing at least 24% lead oxide under a limit of 0.01%, that is 2,400 times lower than the minimum content in its own definition. No compliance period covers a ratio like that, and the only sound way out was a conditional derogation, not a permanent exception of the 1994 kind. The choice of dates is weighed just as carefully: industry committed to 31 December 2028, and the Commission gives it exactly one calendar year more, the 365 days of 2029, for finishing and selling. The relation between the two deadlines is the healthiest proportion in the whole act: 794 days to stop production and 365 to empty the warehouses.

The weak part is not the calendar, it is the allocation of obligations. Article 5c builds a loop out of four links and places the proof that it works on a single link. The crystal glass producer is the one who keeps the records demonstrating the closed loop, under paragraph (5), but he is not the one who informs the buyer about return, that is the operator’s duty under paragraph (2), and he is not the one who administers the commercial channels through which the packaging comes back, under paragraph (3). Put the three paragraphs together and a situation emerges that none of them describes: if a distributor in Romania fails to meet his information duty, the derogation is lost by the glass producer, who can no longer prove the loop works, while the distributor stays untouched. The liability and the lever sit in different hands.

The second weakness is the silence about the period between the regulation becoming applicable and the derogation entering into force. The decision was adopted on 12 August 2026 and entered into force on 29 October 2026, the day following publication, so 78 days later. Recital (12) expressly invokes legal certainty and the fear of disrupting the supply chains concerned, yet the operative part contains no transitional provision and no retroactivity clause. A producer who melted crystal in September 2026 finds nothing in the act to tell him what regime that batch is in. On an act whose entire rationale is avoiding the destruction of packaging already produced and paid for, the absence of a sentence about the past is the one omission that contradicts its own preamble.

The third observation is about order and retrieval, and it shows only when the act is set beside the one it amends. Instead of a new decision, the Commission grafted the crystal regime onto Decision 2001/171/EC, an act 9,382 days old, adopted on the basis of a repealed directive and devoted to an entirely different problem, exceeding the limit because of recycled glass. The title of the basic decision was not amended, so from 29 October 2026 the consolidated version circulates under a name that does not mention crystal and that cites Directive 94/62/EC as though it were in force. On top of that, the material is defined by a reference to Annex I to Directive 69/493/EEC, an act of 15 December 1969, hence 20,771 days older than the publication of 28 October 2026. A lawyer looking for the regime of crystal packaging has to open four acts from four different decades to arrive at a single rule.

What should be changed

  • Aligning the two wordings of the deadline in Article 5a. Paragraph (4) should cover packaging manufactured „until 31 December 2028”, not „before” that date, so that a day of lawful production is not left without the right to finishing and to placing on the market. Practical effect: a batch melted on the last permitted day would not end up destroyed because of a preposition.
  • A provision about batches manufactured before 29 October 2026. The act should state expressly what regime applies to packaging poured between the moment the limit in Regulation (EU) 2025/40 became applicable and the entry into force of the derogation. Practical effect: producers and their customers would know whether that stock can be filled and sold up to 2029 or not.
  • Moving the information duty and the record keeping duty onto the same chain of liability. Either the operator placing the product on the market reports to the producer that it has met its duty under Article 5c(2), or the records under paragraph (5) are limited to what the producer can control. Practical effect: the derogation would no longer be lost through the fault of a link its holder does not run.
  • A single report, before the derogation expires. A reporting deadline in 2028, when manufacturing stops, would give the Commission a picture of the transition before the window closes, instead of the records „upon request” in Article 5c(5). Practical effect: an extension or a shortening would be decided on data, not on the sector’s statements in recital (12).
  • Updating the title of Decision 2001/171/EC and bringing Law no. 249/2015 into line. The title of the European decision points to a repealed directive and does not mention crystal, while Article 8(2) of the Romanian law still grants an unconditional exemption with no deadline. Practical effect: a producer or a distributor in Romania would find the applicable rule where he looks for it, not in a consolidated act whose title sends him elsewhere.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.

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Decizia delegată (UE) 2026/1948 a Comisiei din 12 august 2026 de modificare a Deciziei 2001/171/CE în ceea ce privește ambalajele din sticlă cristal

EMITENT: Comisia Europeană

Publicat în: Jurnalul Oficial al Uniunii Europene, seria L, 2026/1948 din 28 octombrie 2026; CELEX 32026D1948

DECIZIA DELEGATĂ (UE) 2026/1948 AL COMISIEI

din 12 august 2026

de modificare a Deciziei 2001/171/CE în ceea ce privește ambalajele din sticlă cristal

(Text cu relevanță pentru SEE)

COMISIA EUROPEANĂ,

având în vedere Tratatul privind funcționarea Uniunii Europene,

având în vedere Regulamentul (UE) 2025/40 al Parlamentului European și al Consiliului din 19 decembrie 2024 privind ambalajele și deșeurile de ambalaje, de modificare a Regulamentului (UE) 2019/1020 și a Directivei (UE) 2019/904 și de abrogare a Directivei 94/62/CE (1), în special articolul 5 alineatul (8),

întrucât:

(1) Regulamentul (UE) 2025/40 stabilește cerințe de sustenabilitate din punctul de vedere al mediului și de etichetare pentru întregul ciclu de viață al ambalajelor, pentru a permite introducerea lor pe piață.

(2) În conformitate cu articolul 5 alineatul (4) din Regulamentul (UE) 2025/40, totalul nivelurilor concentrației de plumb, cadmiu, mercur și crom hexavalent prezente în ambalaje sau în componentele ambalajului nu trebuie să depășească 100 mg/kg.

(3) În cadrul regimului stabilit de Parlamentul European și de Directiva 94/62/CE a Consiliului (2), care a fost abrogată prin Regulamentul (UE) 2025/40, nivelurile concentrației pentru totalul nivelurilor concentrației de plumb, cadmiu, mercur și crom hexavalent prevăzute la articolul 11 alineatul (1) din directiva respectivă nu se aplică, în temeiul articolului 11 alineatul (2) din directiva respectivă, ambalajelor sau componentelor ambalajelor fabricate în întregime din sticlă cristal cu conținut de plumb în sensul Directivei 69/493/CEE a Consiliului (3).

(4) Decizia 2001/171/CE a Comisiei (4), adoptată în temeiul articolului 11 alineatul (3) din Directiva 94/62/CE, stabilește condițiile în care ambalajele din sticlă pot depăși nivelurile concentrației de metale grele prevăzute în legislația Uniunii privind ambalajele și deșeurile de ambalaje, în cazul în care o astfel de depășire rezultă din utilizarea sticlei reciclate.

(5) Regulamentul (UE) 2025/40 nu prevede derogarea generală aplicabilă anterior ambalajelor fabricate în întregime din sticlă cristal cu conținut de plumb. Ambalajele fabricate în întregime din sticlă cristal cu conținut de plumb conțin, prin definiție, concentrații ridicate de oxid de plumb și, prin urmare, nu pot respecta limita nivelului de concentrație stabilită la articolul 5 alineatul (4) din Regulamentul (UE) 2025/40.

(6) Având în vedere progresele științifice și tehnice, este necesar să se stabilească condiții specifice care să reglementeze derogarea limitată în timp și condiționată pentru astfel de ambalaje în temeiul articolului 5 alineatul (8) din Regulamentul (UE) 2025/40.

(7) Mai mulți producători de sticlă cristal au demonstrat că s-au înregistrat deja progrese științifice și tehnice în direcția dezvoltării și utilizării industriale a sticlei cristal fără conținut de plumb. Aceștia au dezvoltat și testat compoziții fără conținut de plumb și au inițiat investiții în noi procese de producție capabile să reducă sau să elimine utilizarea plumbului. Tranziția rămâne totuși complexă din punct de vedere tehnic, deoarece cuptoarele, fluxurile de cioburi și mediile de producție sunt afectate de contaminarea reziduală cu plumb provenită din procesele de producție istorice bazate pe plumb. Prin urmare, respectarea pragului de 100 mg/kg necesită instalarea unei infrastructuri de producție specifice fără plumb și eliminarea treptată a contaminării reziduale pe tot parcursul procesului de fabricație.

(8) Producția și comercializarea ambalajelor din sticlă cristal sunt organizate printr-un lanț limitat și identificabil care implică un număr mic de producători de sticlă cristal și întreprinderile cliente ale acestora. Ambalajele returnate în vederea reciclării pot fi urmărite până la producătorul inițial de sticlă cristal prin marcaje permanente și returnate prin canale comerciale consacrate, permițând reintroducerea sticlei cristal reciclate în procesul de fabricație în condiții controlate. Astfel de acorduri contribuie la operarea unui circuit închis și controlat în sensul articolului 5 alineatul (8) din Regulamentul (UE) 2025/40.

(9) Producția de ambalaje din sticlă cristal cu conținut de plumb în Uniune este limitată ca volum și se referă în principal la ambalajele cu valoare ridicată destinate produselor de lux din sectorul băuturilor spirtoase, al parfumurilor și al produselor cosmetice. O parte semnificativă a producției respective este exportată în afara Uniunii.

(10) Ambalajele destinate contactului prelungit cu lichide sunt supuse unui tratament de dealcalizare care creează un strat de barieră de siliciu pe suprafața interioară a sticlei cristal. Studiile științifice efectuate de Comisia franceză pentru energie alternativă și energie atomică (CEA) indică faptul că acest tratament reduce în mod substanțial eliberarea de plumb în conținut și rămâne eficace pe perioade îndelungate de utilizare. Producătorii de sticlă cristal ar trebui să continue să aplice un astfel de tratament pentru a menține un nivel ridicat de protecție a sănătății în cursul perioadei de tranziție.

(11) Având în vedere volumele limitate de producție a ambalajelor din sticlă cristal, caracterul temporar al derogării și angajamentul industriei de a finaliza tranziția către sticla cristal fără conținut de plumb într-un interval de timp limitat, este oportun să se stabilească condiții specifice pentru aplicarea derogării de la Regulamentul (UE) 2025/40 în cazul ambalajelor fabricate integral sau parțial din cristal.

(12) Pentru a asigura securitatea juridică și pentru a evita perturbarea disproporționată a lanțurilor de aprovizionare în cauză, derogarea trebuie să se aplice până la 31 decembrie 2029. Sectorul sticlei cristal s-a angajat să înceteze producția de cristal cu conținut de plumb până la 31 decembrie 2028. Este necesară o perioadă suplimentară până la 31 decembrie 2029 pentru a permite finalizarea operațiunilor de finisare, inclusiv prelucrarea la rece a sticlei, expedierea ambalajelor deja fabricate și introducerea pe piață a produselor de către utilizatorii din aval în conformitate cu ciclurile comerciale aplicabile în sectoarele parfumurilor, produselor cosmetice și băuturilor spirtoase de lux. O perioadă mai scurtă ar risca distrugerea ambalajelor deja produse și plătite, fără a contribui la o tranziție industrială mai timpurie.

(13) Prin urmare, Decizia 2001/171/CE ar trebui modificată în consecință.

(14) Măsurile prevăzute în prezenta decizie sunt în concordanță cu obiectivele Regulamentului (UE) 2025/40 și asigură o adaptare proporțională și temporară a situației specifice a ambalajelor din sticlă cristal, sprijinind în același timp tranziția către materiale de ambalare mai durabile,

ADOPTĂ PREZENTA DECIZIE:

Articolul 1

Modificări ale Deciziei 2001/171/CE

Decizia 2001/171/CE se modifică după cum urmează:

1. Articolul 2 se înlocuiește cu următorul text:

„Articolul 2

În sensul prezentei decizii, se aplică definițiile prevăzute la articolul 3 din Regulamentul (UE) 2025/40.

De asemenea, se aplică următoarele definiții:

1. «introdus intenționat» înseamnă utilizat deliberat pentru crearea ambalajului sau a unei componente a ambalajului, a cărei prezență continuă este necesară în ambalajul final sau în componenta ambalajului, căruia îi asigură caracteristici, aspect sau calitate specifice; utilizarea materialelor reciclate ca materii prime pentru fabricarea de noi materiale de ambalare, în cazul în care anumite părți ale materialelor reciclate pot conține cantități de metale reglementate, nu se consideră introducere intenționată;

2. «ambalaj din sticlă cristal» înseamnă un ambalaj fabricat în întregime sau parțial din categoriile de sticlă cristal enumerate în anexa I la Directiva 69/493/CEE a Consiliului (*1);

3. «producător de sticlă cristal» înseamnă întreprinderea care fabrică ambalaje din sticlă cristal;

4. «circuit închis și controlat» înseamnă un sistem în care ambalajele din sticlă cristal sunt introduse pe piață prin canale comerciale identificabile, marcate permanent pentru a permite identificarea producătorului de sticlă cristal, returnate prin sisteme de colectare controlată și reciclate prin reintroducerea în procesul de fabricație al producătorului de sticlă cristal de la care provine ambalajul.

(*1) Directiva 69/493/CEE a Consiliului din 15 decembrie 1969 privind apropierea legislațiilor statelor membre referitoare la sticla cristal (JO L 326, 29.12.1969, p. 36, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/1969/493/oj).”

2. Se introduc următoarele articole 5a, 5b și 5c: „Articolul 5a (1) În sensul prezentului articol, «fabricat» înseamnă fabricat sau produs prin utilizarea procesului de combinare a materiilor prime individuale la temperatură înaltă pentru a forma sticlă topită. (2) Prin derogare de la articolul 5 alineatul (4) din Regulamentul (UE) 2025/40, ambalajele din sticlă cristal sunt autorizate să depășească nivelurile de concentrație menționate în dispoziția respectivă până la 31 decembrie 2029, cu condiția să respecte articolele 5b și 5c din prezenta decizie. (3) Ambalajele din sticlă cristal care conțin plumb introdus fie în mod intenționat, fie ca urmare a contaminării reziduale pot fi fabricate numai până la 31 decembrie 2028. (4) Ambalajele din sticlă cristal fabricate înainte de 31 decembrie 2028 pot continua să facă obiectul operațiunilor de finisare, inclusiv prelucrarea la rece a sticlei, să fie umplute, etichetate, distribuite și introduse pe piață până la 31 decembrie 2029. Articolul 5b (1) Plumbul se introduce în mod intenționat numai în măsura în care acest lucru este necesar pentru fabricarea ambalajelor din sticlă cristal. (2) Ambalajele din sticlă cristal care fac obiectul derogării prevăzute la articolul 5a sunt supuse unui tratament de dealcalizare sau unui proces echivalent prin care să se asigure formarea unei bariere de suprafață care limitează eliberarea plumbului în conținut. (3) Producătorii de sticlă cristal iau toate măsurile corespunzătoare pentru a sprijini tranziția către producția de sticlă cristal fără conținut de plumb și încetează fabricarea ambalajelor din sticlă cristal cu conținut de plumb introdus intenționat până la 31 decembrie 2028. Articolul 5c (1) Ambalajele din sticlă cristal care fac obiectul derogării prevăzute la articolul 5a poartă un marcaj permanent care permite identificarea producătorului de sticlă cristal responsabil cu fabricarea sa. (2) Operatorii economici care introduc pe piață produse în ambalaje din sticlă cristal pun la dispoziția utilizatorilor finali informații cu privire la posibilitatea de a returna gratuit astfel de ambalaje în vederea reciclării. (3) Ambalajele din sticlă cristal returnate în vederea reciclării sunt transferate, direct sau prin canale comerciale stabilite, producătorului de sticlă cristal identificat prin marcajul permanent menționat la alineatul (1). (4) Ambalajele din sticlă cristal returnate în vederea reciclării pot fi reintroduse în procesul de fabricație al producătorului de sticlă cristal de la care provin. (5) Producătorii de sticlă cristal țin evidențe corespunzătoare care să demonstreze funcționarea circuitului închis și controlat și le pun la dispoziția autorităților competente și a Comisiei, la cerere.”

Articolul 2

Prezenta decizie intră în vigoare în ziua următoare datei publicării în Jurnalul Oficial al Uniunii Europene.

Adoptată la Bruxelles, 12 august 2026.

Pentru Comisie

Președinta

Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) JO L, 2025/40, 22.1.2025, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2025/40/oj.

(2) Directiva 94/62/CE a Parlamentului European și a Consiliului din 20 decembrie 1994 privind ambalajele și deșeurile de ambalaje (JO L 365, 31.12.1994, p. 10, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/1994/62/oj).

(3) Directiva 69/493/CEE a Consiliului din 15 decembrie 1969 privind apropierea legislațiilor statelor membre referitoare la sticla cristal (JO L 326, 29.12.1969, p. 36, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/1969/493/oj).

(4) Decizia 2001/171/CE a Comisiei din 19 februarie 2001 de stabilire a condițiilor derogatorii pentru ambalajele din sticlă de la nivelul concentrației de metale grele stabilit prin Directiva 94/62/CE privind ambalajele și deșeurile din ambalaje (JO L 62, 2.3.2001, p. 20, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2001/171/oj).

Sursă: Jurnalul Oficial al Uniunii Europene, seria L, 2026/1948 din 28 octombrie 2026; CELEX 32026D1948

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