Solutions · Ensure compliance
PPWR compliance, through the code already on your pack.
The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation requires manufacturers to identify themselves and their packaging. A Polytag Smart QR Code connects every pack to that information, and to everything else your customers want to know.
02 — What PPWR changes
PPWR is changing what needs to appear on packaging.
Since 12 August 2026, Article 15 of the PPWR requires manufacturers to identify themselves: their name, registered trade name or registered trade mark, a postal address where they can be contacted, and an email or other electronic contact where they have one. Packaging must also carry a type, batch or serial number, or another element that identifies it.
For brands, managing this information can become a practical problem: multiple packaging formats and suppliers, legal entities or contact details that change over time, and one pack design used across several markets. More fixed information on crowded artwork means more artwork versions, and every future change gets harder.
03 — What the code can carry
A Smart QR Code supports and extends PPWR compliance. It does not remove every printed requirement.
The manufacturer's details can be given on the packaging or through a QR code, so the Smart QR Code you already print can carry them. Other PPWR information still has to be printed on the pack, so the code works alongside your on-pack labels, not instead of them, and creates far more value from the space you give to regulatory information.
Manufacturer information goes on the packaging or via a QR code: name, registered trade name or trade mark, postal address and, where available, electronic means of communication. — Source: ARA, Information on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)
04 — Connected packaging
Turn a compliance requirement into a connected packaging opportunity.
A Polytag Smart QR Code gives you a digital connection between the physical pack and information about the packaging behind it.
Instead of treating PPWR as another labelling exercise, use the QR code already on the pack as a gateway to packaging, sustainability and compliance information.
Polytag's platform manages the content behind it in real time, so you can update it without changing the printed Smart QR Code. Our platform can serve different content by market and language, so one pack design can work across every territory you sell in.
05 — In the platform
Manufacturer details, managed per SKU.
Add each SKU's manufacturer name, postal address and contact in the Polytag platform, and they appear when the Smart QR Code is scanned. When a supplier or address changes, update it once in the platform rather than reprinting your packaging, so your packs are ready for PPWR and for the legislation still to come.
06 — One code
One code. Multiple purposes.
Manufacturer and traceability
Who made the packaging, how to contact them, and how to identify the pack.
Market-specific regulation
The regulatory information each market asks for, served to that market.
Packaging and recycling
What the pack is made of and how to recycle it where the shopper lives.
Product and sustainability
The story of the product and its sustainability credentials.
In the shopper's language
Localised by market and by the language set on their phone.
Promotions and loyalty
Offers, loyalty and brand content that give the scan a reason to happen.
First-party engagement data
When and where packs are scanned, and which content people use.
Because the content is managed digitally, you can update what's behind the code without changing the printed Smart QR Code.
- Localised by market and device language
- Dynamic content
- Scan-data capture
07 — More than compliance
Why use valuable pack space for compliance alone?
PPWR requires greater transparency about who made your packaging.
A Polytag Smart QR Code connects every physical pack to a dynamic digital information layer, helping you provide packaging and regulatory information while creating a direct channel to consumers. Update content, localise information by market and language, and capture valuable engagement data, all through one code.
- No reprint.
- By market.
- In every language you sell in.
- Scan data included.
- One code.
The wider regulation: what PPWR covers, and when each requirement lands.
08 — FAQ
Since 12 August 2026, manufacturers must give their name, registered trade name or registered trade mark and a postal address where they can be contacted, plus electronic contact details where available. Packaging must also carry a type, batch or serial number, or another element that identifies it.
Yes. The manufacturer's details can go on the packaging or be provided through a QR code or other data carrier. A Polytag Smart QR Code can carry them alongside your packaging, product and brand content.
No. Some PPWR information must still be printed on the pack. The Smart QR Code supports and extends compliance, and makes more of the space you give to it.
Update the information behind the code. The content is managed digitally, so it can change without changing the printed Smart QR Code.
Polytag's platform can serve different content by market and language from the same Smart QR Code.
No. Check how PPWR applies to your packaging with your legal adviser. Polytag helps with the digital layer behind the pack.