S.L. 549.43 Art. 2Scope.

(1) These regulations bring into effect the provisions of European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20

December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste as amended by

Directive 2004/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste, Directive 2005/20/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2005 amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste, Directive (EU) 2015/720 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2015 amending Directive 94/62/EC as regards reducing the consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags and Directive (EU) 2018/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste.

(2) The objective of the Directive is to harmonise national measures concerning the management of packaging and packaging waste in order, on the one hand, to prevent any impact thereof on the environment of all Member States as well as of third countries or to reduce such impact thus providing a high level of environmental protection, and, on the other hand, to ensure the functioning of the internal market and to avoid obstacles to trade and distortion and restriction of competition within the European Union.

(3) These regulations shall apply to all packaging placed on the market in Malta and all packaging waste, whether it is used or released at industrial, commercial, office, shop, service, household or any other level, regardless of the material used, unless such packaging is expressly excluded from the application of these regulations. These regulations, with the exception of regulations 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 18, 25 and Schedule 2, shall not apply to:

(a) packaging not intended for placing on the market in Malta; and

(b) producers putting less than 100 kilograms on the market of packaging or packaging material in a calendar year.

(4) These regulations lay down measures aimed, as a first priority, at preventing the production of packaging waste and, as additional fundamental principles, at reusing packaging, at recycling and other forms of recovering packaging waste and, therefore, at reducing the final disposal of such waste in order to contribute to the transition towards a circular economy.

(5) These regulations shall apply without prejudice to existing provisions, in particular with regard to quality requirements for packaging such as those regarding safety, the protection of health and the hygiene of the packed products or to existing transport requirements, or to the provisions of the Waste Regulations.

(6) The following shall be excluded from the scope of these regulations, to the extent that they are covered by the Beverage Containers Recycling Regulations:

(a) beverages in beverage containers intended to be placed on the national market; and

(b) any person importing, bottling, canning or otherwise filling beverages in beverage containers intended to be placed on the market within the territory of Malta, hereinafter referred to as a producer of beverages in beverage containers: Provided that this regulation does not exonerate such producers of beverages in beverage containers from the provisions of these Regulations with respect to other packaging or packaging material placed on the market other than the beverage containers referred to in the Beverage Containers Recycling Regulations:

Provided further that regulations 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 18 and Schedule 2 shall still apply.