Re-use and refill
Article 51
1. Member States shall take measures to encourage the establishment of re-use systems for packaging with sufficient incentives for return and of refill systems in an environmentally sound manner. Those systems shall comply with the requirements laid down in Articles 27 and 28 and Annex VI and shall not compromise food hygiene or the safety of consumers. 2. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 may include: (a) the use of deposit and return systems compliant with minimum requirements in Annex X for reusable packaging and for packaging formats other than those referred to in Article 50(1); (b) the use of economic incentives, including obligations on final distributors to charge for the use of single-use packaging and to inform consumers about the cost of such packaging at the point of sale; (c) obligations on manufacturers or final distributors to make available in reusable packaging within a re-use system or through refill a certain percentage of products other than those covered by the re-use targets laid down in Article 29, on condition that that does not lead to distortions on the internal market or trade barriers for products from other Member States. 3. Member States shall ensure that extended producer responsibility schemes and deposit and return systems allocate a minimum share of their budget to financing reduction and prevention actions.