Does the Italian compostability obligation apply to single-use plastic packaging for fresh fruit and vegetables?

Not to the formats listed in the new comma 2-bis of Article 226-quinquies of Legislative Decree 152/2006. Until the Commission's guidelines under Article 25(6) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 are implemented, the obligations in comma 1 do not apply to single-use plastic packaging holding less than 1.5 kg of pre-packed fresh products from that list — stone fruit, berries, table grapes, kiwi, avocado, apples and pears at eating ripeness, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, potatoes, carrots, leafy vegetables, fresh aromatic herbs, cultivated mushrooms and fourth-range ready-to-eat fruit and vegetables. The PPWR's own restriction on single-use plastic packaging for less than 1.5 kg of fresh fruit and vegetables (Annex V, point 2) still applies from 1 January 2030.

Is the Italian compostability duty a 2030 obligation?

No. The rule is in force since 8 August 2026, when decree-law 143/2026 took effect, and the conversion law 173/2026 changed its exclusions rather than its timing. Only the administrative sanction in Article 261(4-quinquies) of Legislative Decree 152/2006 applies from 1 January 2030.

Which single-use plastic packaging needs a UNI EN 13432 certificate to be sold in Italy?

Four formats, listed in Article 226-quinquies(1): single-use plastic packaging for less than 1.5 kg of pre-packed fresh fruit and vegetables; single-use plastic food and drink packaging filled and consumed on the premises of the hotel, restaurant and catering sector; HORECA single-use plastic packaging containing individual portions of condiments, preserves, sauces, coffee cream, sugar and seasoning; and flexible single-use packaging for cosmetics and hygiene products in accommodation businesses intended for a single booking. Certification must come from an accredited body and follow UNI EN 13432 or an equivalent European standard.

Is the documentation defence in Law 173/2026 already available?

No. The conversion law adds that the sanction does not apply to an operator that proves it acquired the packaging on the basis of suitable documentation from the manufacturer, importer or distributor attesting conformity with Article 226-quinquies, unless it knew of the non-conformity or it was evident. But that sentence sits in Article 261(4-quinquies), the whole of which applies from 1 January 2030, so the protection starts with the sanction. What counts as suitable documentation is not defined in the text.

KontorBund — Note Italy's compostability rule for single-use plastic packaging
Last checked 7 October 2026
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The Library

Italy's compostability rule for single-use plastic packaging (Law 173/2026, in force 7 October 2026)

Last checked7 October 2026

KeeperOpen — keeper wanted

StatusIn force — 7 October 2026

The short version

Italy has a national compostability obligation, and it is not the PPWR. Art. 226-quinquies of Legislative Decree 152/2006, inserted by decree-law 143/2026 and in force since 8 August 2026, says that four single-use plastic formats may be placed on the Italian market for the first time only if an accredited body certifies them biodegradable and compostable to UNI EN 13432, or to a recognised European equivalent. Law 173 of 5 October 2026, in force from 7 October 2026, kept that duty and rewrote its exclusions: single-use plastic packaging holding under 1.5 kg of pre-packed fresh fruit and vegetables is out until the Commission implements its Art. 25(6) PPWR guidelines, and the flexible single-use packaging for cosmetics and hygiene products in hotels is caught only if the product inside is certified compostable as well. The fine — €2,500 to €25,000 — runs only from 1 January 2030, and from that date a supplier's conformity documentation is what switches it off.

What Law 173/2026 changed, and when

Two instruments, three dates, and they are easy to mix up. The government acted first: decree-law 7 August 2026, n. 143, published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 7 August 2026 (GU n. 182) and in force from 8 August 2026. It inserted Art. 226-quinquies into Part Four of Legislative Decree 152/2006 — the environmental code — and added a new comma 4-quinquies to Art. 261 of the same code for the sanction.

Parliament then converted it with amendments. Law 5 October 2026, n. 173 was published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 6 October 2026 (GU n. 232, code 26G00193) and, under Art. 2 of the conversion law itself, entered into force on 7 October 2026 — the day after publication, not the usual fifteenth day.

The four substantive changes in the conversion annex: Comma 2 replaced — the exclusions now point separately at Annex V, points 2 and 4, and at Art. 25(4) of the PPWR. New comma 2-bis — the fresh-produce carve-out described below. Comma 1(d) tightened — for flexible single-use packaging for cosmetics and hygiene products in the accommodation sector, the product inside must be certified biodegradable and compostable too. New final sentence in Art. 261(4-quinquies) — the supplier-documentation defence.
What it did not change: The certification duty, the four formats in comma 1, the requirement that packaging stay within the formats and uses the PPWR permits, and the sanction amounts. The conversion also moved the new article expressly into Part Four, Title II of the code.
Why the year 2030 keeps appearing: Because of the sanction, not the duty. The notified draft would have applied the requirement from 1 January 2030, and the Commission objected to exactly that — see the TRIS section. What is in force omits any staged start: the obligation runs from 8 August 2026, and only Art. 261(4-quinquies) is written to apply from 1 January 2030.
What we read, and what we could not: The modifications as Parliament made them are taken from the text the Senate approved on 23 September 2026, with its annex of conversion amendments; the Camera approved that text in definitive form on 1 October 2026 under C. 3118. The coordinated text as published with the law we could not open: Normattiva's consolidated version of Article 226-quinquies still showed the pre-conversion wording when we checked, and the Gazzetta page gives the law without a readable annex. Everything on this page that describes the final rule therefore rests on those two official texts plus the promulgated law's official dates — not on a database consolidation.

The four formats and what has to be certified

Comma 1 is short and closed. Each of the following is made available on the Italian market for the first time — as well as in the formats and for the uses the PPWR permits — only where an accredited body has certified it biodegradable and compostable in accordance with UNI EN 13432 or an equivalent European standard.

Art. 226-quinquies(1) Where it sits in the PPWR

(a) Single-use plastic packaging for less than 1.5 kg of pre-packed fresh fruit and vegetables Annex V, point 2

(b) Single-use plastic food and drink packaging, filled and consumed on the premises of the hotel, restaurant and catering sector Annex V, point 3, with the micro-enterprise route in Art. 25(4)

(c) HORECA single-use plastic packaging holding individual portions of condiments, preserves, sauces, coffee cream, sugar and seasoning — except packaging handed over with ready-to-eat take-away food for immediate consumption, and packaging needed for safety and hygiene in establishments with a medical requirement for individual care Annex V, point 4

(d) Flexible single-use packaging for cosmetics and hygiene products in accommodation businesses (ATECO 2025), for a single booking and disposed of before the next guest arrives Annex V, point 5

Art. 226-quinquies(1)	Where it sits in the PPWR
(a) Single-use plastic packaging for less than 1.5 kg of pre-packed fresh fruit and vegetables	Annex V, point 2
(b) Single-use plastic food and drink packaging, filled and consumed on the premises of the hotel, restaurant and catering sector	Annex V, point 3, with the micro-enterprise route in `Art. 25(4)`
(c) HORECA single-use plastic packaging holding individual portions of condiments, preserves, sauces, coffee cream, sugar and seasoning — except packaging handed over with ready-to-eat take-away food for immediate consumption, and packaging needed for safety and hygiene in establishments with a medical requirement for individual care	Annex V, point 4
(d) Flexible single-use packaging for cosmetics and hygiene products in accommodation businesses (ATECO 2025), for a single booking and disposed of before the next guest arrives	Annex V, point 5

The mapping in the right-hand column is not printed in the law as a table. The Commission described the formats covered by the notified draft as the ones Annex V points 2 to 5 restricts, and the Italian commas point where we have marked them — comma 2 sends letter (a) to Annex V, points 2 and 4, letter (b) to Art. 25(4), and comma 3 is about plates, which is Annex V, point 3 territory.

Note what the certification is, and what it is not. It is a compostability certificate from an accredited body under UNI EN 13432. It is not a PPWR declaration of conformity, and it does not by itself authorise a format the PPWR restricts. Comma 4 of the article additionally leaves food-contact compliance — Regulation (EC) 1935/2004, Regulation (EU) 10/2011, Regulation (EC) 2023/2006 — and the waste-management rules untouched.

The fresh-produce carve-out, in full

This is the part that reaches ordinary food shippers. The new comma 2-bis says that, pending the implementation of the Commission's guidelines under Art. 25(6) of the PPWR, the comma-1 obligations do not apply to the letter-(a) packaging where it holds the following pre-packed fresh products — the list is exhaustive in the text:

Fruit: Stone fruit: cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums. Berries and small fruit: table grapes, mini-kiwi (kiwiberry), strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, blueberries. Fruit with skin: kiwi, passion fruit, Ficus carica delicatissimi (figs), prickly pears, pitaya, avocado. Pome fruit: pears and apples at the ripening stage for consumption. Persimmons.
Vegetables: Leafy vegetables, herbs and edible flowers: lettuces, escarole, Belgian endive, rocket, spinach, watercress, lamb's lettuce, sprouts and young shoots, baby-leaf crops. Brassicas except brassica roots: broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, leafy cabbages. Fruiting vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, gherkins, courgettes. Podded vegetables: green beans in the pod. Root and tuber vegetables: potatoes, radishes, carrots. Stem vegetables: asparagus, rhubarb, leeks. Small-calibre, highly fragile vegetables, including cherry tomatoes and mini cucumbers.
Also on the list: Fresh aromatic herbs; cultivated mushrooms (not wild mushrooms — the text says cultivated); and fourth-range fruit and vegetables ready for consumption.
When the carve-out ends: The Italian text ties it to the implementation of the Commission's guidelines, and gives no date. The PPWR's own deadline for those guidelines is 12 February 2027, and Art. 25(6) describes them as explaining Annex V, with a non-exhaustive list of fruits and vegetables excluded from point 2 of that Annex. So the carve-out could be short, and its end is not fixed by Italian law.
What it does not do: It removes the Italian compostability obligation. It does not suspend the PPWR: from 1 January 2030, Annex V, point 2 restricts single-use plastic packaging for less than 1.5 kg of pre-packed fresh fruit and vegetables across the Union, with member-state exemptions only for the reasons that point lists.

Plates, and the SUP overlap

The most consequential single line in the file is about plates. When Italy notified the draft, the Commission's observations of 6 July 2026 said that a compostability requirement could not be the last word on these formats, because the Single-Use Plastics Directive (EU) 2019/904 also governs them:

The Commission's position, in its own words, is that the SUP definition of plastic draws no distinction between biodegradable, bio-based and compostable plastic and plastic that is none of those; that the SUP Directive does not authorise member states to carve out derogations for single-use plastic products made from those materials; and that Art. 5 bans the single-use plastic products listed in Part B of its Annex including plates (point 3), whatever their biodegradability. It asked Italy to clarify, transparently, that single-use plastic plates are outside the draft and remain subject to that ban.

The rule as in force answers the question in comma 3: where the letter-(a) or letter-(b) packaging consists of the single-use plastic products at point 3 of Part B of the Annex to Legislative Decree 196/2021, the Art. 5(1) ban stands. In plain language: a compostable plastic plate is not a way through — plates are prohibited, not compostability-conditioned.

The Commission made a second point that the Italian text does not answer. Under Art. 4 of the SUP Directive, member states must achieve an ambitious and sustained reduction in the consumption of the products listed in Part A of the Annex, and the Commission said the notified formats fall inside that obligation: mandating them in compostable form, it wrote, risks structurally sustaining the consumption of single-use products instead of encouraging alternatives. We found nothing in the decree-law or in the conversion annex that addresses that strand.

The 2030 sanction and the documentation defence

The duty has no teeth until 2030 — but when they arrive, they arrive with a file attached. Art. 261(4-quinquies) of the environmental code carries an administrative fine of €2,500 to €25,000, and the offending act includes using misleading or evasive declarations of conformity or other wording. Where the packaging concerned is worth more than 10% of the offender's turnover, the fine is increased by up to four times the maximum.

The conversion law then added the sentence that matters commercially:

"Suitable documentation" — the escape hatch

The fine does not apply to an operator that proves it acquired the packaging on the basis of suitable documentation, provided by the manufacturer, the importer or the distributor, attesting conformity with the requirements of Art. 226-quinquies — unless it knew of the non-conformity or the non-conformity was evident.

Read that with the date in mind. Art. 261(4-quinquies) as a whole applies from 1 January 2030, and the defence sits inside it: it protects against the fine, it does not postpone the duty. And the text does not define what "suitable documentation" is, nor whether a certificate that also has to serve the manufacturer's own obligations will do. It is, however, the clearest signal in the file that the Italian enforcement model is documentary: who holds the paper, and from whom, is the practical question.

TRIS 2026/0167/IT and the Art. 9(2)(b) conditions

Italy notified the measure as a draft technical regulation. The register is public: notification 2026/0167/IT, received on 1 April 2026, standstill period ending 7 July 2026, with comments from the European Commission and from Spain (23 July 2026). The Commission's comments are the letter of 6 July 2026, C(2026) 4866 final.

The legal basis Italy relied on is the one route the PPWR leaves open. Under Art. 9(2)(b), a member state may require packaging other than the formats listed in point (a) to be made available on its territory for the first time only if it is compostable — a derogation from the general recyclability duty in Art. 6(1). Art. 25(3) of the PPWR preserves that route expressly. But the derogation has conditions, and the Commission set them out in order:

The requirement had to pre-date 12 August 2026: The member state must already have required the packaging to be compostable before the Regulation's date of application, 12 August 2026. The Commission noted that, in the notified draft, the requirement would have applied to packaging made available for the first time on the Italian market from 1 January 2030, and concluded that the draft was not in line with Art. 9(2)(b).
The collection and treatment condition: The derogation also requires appropriate bio-waste collection schemes and treatment infrastructure so that compostable packaging actually enters the bio-waste stream. The Commission asked Italy to explain the measures taken to avoid confusing consumers about the right disposal route, and to avoid compromising the recyclability of other streams — including for cosmetics packaging that becomes waste in a member state without comparable composting infrastructure.
What Italy did next: The decree-law that followed, published on 7 August 2026 and in force from 8 August 2026 — before the 12 August 2026 application date — contains the obligation with immediate effect and defers only the sanction to 2030. The conversion law left that timing alone and dealt with the formats instead.
And the infringement file: In the same section the Commission recalled the ongoing infringement procedures against Italy for incorrect transposition of the SUP Directive, citing INFR(2024)2053. That is the context in which the plates point should be read: the Commission was not only reviewing a packaging measure, it was flagging that Italy's SUP transposition is already contested.

What is still open

Things this page cannot resolve, in the order we would ask them.

What "suitable documentation" must contain: Not defined in the text, and it only starts to matter from 1 January 2030. A UNI EN 13432 certificate naming the format and the material is the obvious candidate; whether a certificate issued to a converter, rather than to you, satisfies a "provided by the manufacturer, importer or distributor" chain is untested.
The rest of the compostable single-use packaging: The rule covers four formats. What happens to other single-use biodegradable or compostable plastic packaging that falls outside them — the Commission's broader Art. 4 consumption-reduction concern, and how Italy intends to treat compostable items generally — is not settled by either text we read.
The guidelines, and their date: Art. 25(6) makes 12 February 2027 the PPWR deadline for the Commission's guidelines and a non-exhaustive fruit-and-vegetable list. If they slip, the Italian carve-out simply continues, because Italian law ties it to implementation rather than to a date.
Where the summaries diverge: Some secondary write-ups of the conversion frame it as permitting certain single-use plastic packaging to be placed on the market on condition that it is certified compostable. That is not a change the conversion made: it describes the duty that already stood from 8 August 2026. Other summaries stress the rewritten exclusions, which is the change. Where they conflict, the two official texts above govern, and we have flagged in the first section exactly how far our reading of the final text goes.

Known traps

"The PPWR alone decides what I may ship into Italy"

It does not, for these four formats. The national compostability obligation sits beside the Regulation, in the environmental code, with its own sanction. The PPWR sets the ceiling — the formats and uses it permits — not the whole rule.

"It's a 2030 item"

The obligation has been in force since 8 August 2026. 2030 is the date the fine starts, and the reason 2030 keeps appearing in coverage of the notified draft. Buying compostable formats is a today problem; producing paper for a 2030 inspection is a today problem too.

"Compostable, so the single-use plastic rules don't bite"

The Commission's position is the opposite, and comma 3 of the article gives it effect in Italian law: single-use plastic plates are banned under the SUP transposition whatever they are made of. Compostability is not a route around a prohibition.

Reading the fresh-produce carve-out as a permission until 2030

It suspends the Italian obligation for a closed list of products. It does not touch Annex V, point 2 of the PPWR, which restricts single-use plastic packaging for less than 1.5 kg of pre-packed fresh fruit and vegetables from 1 January 2030 — the same formats, later deadline, Union-wide.

Assuming your packaging supplier's certificate is the defence

The defence is documentary and runs from 2030, and it asks for documentation attesting conformity with Art. 226-quinquies, supplied by the manufacturer, importer or distributor. Ask your supplier for that sentence, not for "a compostability certificate", and keep it.

Sources

This page is built on Italian and EU primary texts. Where we used a summary, we say so; where we could not read something, we say that too.

Normattiva — DECRETO-LEGGE 7 agosto 2026, n. 143, "Disposizioni urgenti in materia di obbligo di compostabilità di determinate tipologie di imballaggi" Official. Read in full. Source for the four formats in the new Art. 226-quinquies(1), the certification requirement against UNI EN 13432 or an equivalent European standard, the food-contact and waste carve-outs in comma 4, the SUP reservation on plates in comma 3, and the sanction in Art. 261(4-quinquies) — €2,500 to €25,000, up to four times the maximum above 10% of turnover, applicable from 1 January 2030. The act note gives entry into force on 8 August 2026, GU n. 182 of 7 August 2026
Gazzetta Ufficiale — LEGGE 5 ottobre 2026, n. 173 (26G00193), GU n. 232 del 6 ottobre 2026 Official. Source for the conversion, its publication on 6 October 2026, the annex of modifications, and the promulgation date. Normattiva's act note for the same law records entry into force on 7 October 2026
Senato della Repubblica — testo approvato il 23 settembre 2026 con l'allegato "Modificazioni apportate in sede di conversione" Official. The annex read for the list of changes: the replacement of comma 2 (Annex V, points 2 and 4; Art. 25(4)), the new comma 2-bis with the full fruit-and-vegetable list and the reference to the Art. 25(6) guidelines, the added condition on the product contained in the accommodation-sector cosmetics and hygiene packaging, and the operator's documentation defence
Camera dei deputati — comunicato, seduta del 1° ottobre 2026 Official. Records the definitive approval on 1 October 2026 of the conversion bill C. 3118 as approved by the Senate, which is what was promulgated as Law 173/2026
European Commission — TRIS notification 2026/0167/IT, register entry Official. Notification received 1 April 2026, end of standstill 7 July 2026, comments issued by the Commission and by Spain, and the Commission's own description of the draft it was sent. The Commission's comments message in English is in the same record: message 116235
European Commission — comments of 6 July 2026, C(2026) 4866 final (English version) Official. Read in full, in Italian and in English. Source for the Art. 9(2)(b) conditions and for the finding that the notified draft's 1 January 2030 start was not in line; for the SUP Directive's definition of plastic covering biodegradable, bio-based and compostable plastic with no possibility of national derogation; for single-use plastic plates being covered by the Art. 5 ban, Annex Part B point 3; for the Art. 4 consumption-reduction point; and for the reference to infringement INFR(2024)2053
Normattiva — decreto legislativo 8 novembre 2021, n. 196 (attuazione della direttiva (UE) 2019/904, plastica monouso) The national instrument to which comma 3 of the new article refers: where the letter-(a) or letter-(b) packaging consists of the single-use plastic products at point 3 of Part B of the annex, the ban in Art. 5(1) of this decree continues to apply. We did not read its annex for this page — the identification of point 3 as plates comes from the Commission's comments and from the annex to Directive (EU) 2019/904
Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) — EUR-Lex The governing text. Source for Art. 9(2) and the pre-12-August-2026 condition, Art. 25(3), Art. 25(4), Art. 25(6) and its 12 February 2027 deadline for the guidelines, and the five restricted formats in Annex V, points 2 to 5

Help us keep this page honest

Two things would improve it most, and both come from someone doing this for real: what an Italian supplier actually hands over when asked to attest conformity with Art. 226-quinquies, and what a non-Italian compostable packaging producer is being told about these four formats. We would also like to read the coordinated text in the Gazzetta Ufficiale rather than the annex of the Senate text — if you have access to it, send it to us.

Tell us on Discord The Italy desk Annex V: take-away and re-use The PPWR calendar