Tiếng ViệtBefore answering this question, we may want to ask why do we need to ask ourselves this question? Does packaging materials have anything to do with EUDR?
The answer is YES 😊.
The EU Regulation on Deforestation and Forest Degradation (EUDR, Regulation (EU) 2023/1115) sets rules to ensure that supply chains for key commodities are free from deforestation and forest degradation after 2020. These key commodities include cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soy, and timber and its derivatives. Companies importing these commodities and derived products made from them to the European Union market or exporting them from the Union market must ensure that they have been produced in areas that have not been deforested or degraded.
Since many packaging materials are made from wood directly (e.g., pallets, crates) or from products derived from wood (e.g., cardboard, paper boxes), and wood is covered by the EUDR, it is important to know whether you have to comply with the EUDR.
To answer this question, we can divide the question into 2 different scenarios:
Scenario 1: Wood is used for packaging (e.g., pallets, box pallets, boxes, crates, packing cases, etc. as listed in HS code 4415).
Packaging products made from wood fall under the scope of EUDR. According to Annex I of EUDR, packaging products under HS code 4415 include:
4415 Packing cases, boxes, crates, drums and similar packings, of wood; cable-drums of wood; pallets, box pallets and other load boards, of wood; pallet collars of wood.
Scenario 2: Packaging of paperboard or cardboard (e.g., cartons, boxes, cases, sacks and other packing containers, of paper or paperboard as listed under HS code 4819).
Packaging made of paperboard or cardboard is not classified in HS code 4415, but in HS codes of Chapter 48: Paper and paperboard; articles of paper pulp, of paper or of paperboard. These products are also covered by the EUDR.
For both scenarios, the FAQs of the European Commission has answered this question. The short answer is “it depends” on how the packaging products are used. If the packaging product is (1) used to ‘support, protect or carry’ another product and is (2) not placed on the market as packaging in their own right, it is not covered by EUDR.
In general saying, if the packaging materials are used exclusively as packaging for other products and are not placed on the market as a standalone packaging, they are not classified as relevant products within the meaning of Annex I of the Regulation, regardless of the HS code under which they fall (FAQs EUDR).
However, if the packaging products made from wood is placed on the market or exported as a product in its own right (i.e., standalone packaging), rather than to support, protect or carry another product, it is covered by EUDR and therefore due diligence requirements apply (FAQs EUDR).
