Introducing the deposit return scheme is one of the most significant waste management challenges of recent years. To enable effective implementation, the legislature has provided a transitional period lasting until 31 December 2025. Special transitional rules for products in packaging covered by the scheme will apply during this period.
The transitional period
Under the scheme’s rules, beverages in packaging subject to the scheme that lack the appropriate “new” marking indicating participation may be used until consumed, returned or stocks are exhausted, provided they were placed on the market within three months of joining the scheme and no later than 31 December 2025. This means products in packaging that does not meet the scheme’s requirements may be placed on the market during the transitional period, and the scheme’s rules, including the obligation to charge deposits, will not apply to them.
This enables businesses to move smoothly from placing products on the market in non-compliant packaging to packaging meeting the new standards. It is therefore essential to plan orders and production so that all beverages in older, unmarked packaging are placed on the market before the transitional period ends.
Beverages in existing packaging sold during this period:
- are not subject to deposit charges;
- need not bear the scheme symbol;
- are not subject to retailers’ obligations to accept returns and refund deposits.
This avoids potential product waste or the need to withdraw products, as well as attempts to claim refunds on packaging for which no deposit was collected at any stage of distribution.
Placing on the market
Efficient commercial planning of sales and production requires an understanding of when a product is placed on the market within the statutory meaning. This determines whether it must meet the scheme’s requirements. Placing on the market means making packaging or packaged products available for the first time in Poland, for payment or free of charge, for use or distribution, as well as importing or making an intra-Community acquisition of packaging or packaged products.
The legislation presumes that placing on the market occurs on: (1) release from a warehouse or transfer to a third party, for packaging and packaged products manufactured in Poland; (2) entry into Poland; or (3) issue of an invoice confirming an intra-Community acquisition of packaging or packaged products, respectively.
For beverages produced in Poland, this generally occurs when a product is made available through release from a warehouse or transfer to a third party for use or distribution, for example by sale or free donation. Merely transporting a product within Poland, such as from distribution centres to warehouses or shops within the same entity, does not constitute placing it on the market.
Interpretative doubts may arise where an entity commissions an external supplier to manufacture own-brand products. It is not entirely clear whether placing on the market occurs when the manufacturer delivers to the customer or when the customer sells the products. The rules are insufficient to establish this conclusively, and a lack of official guidance compounds uncertainty. The relevant date will determine, among other things, whether the transitional arrangements cover the product.
Where delivery of own-brand packaged beverages is commissioned, it appears that the customer’s acceptance of delivery should not be treated as the moment of placing on the market. First, a supplier manufacturing under the customer’s brand is not conducting the business of placing packaged products on the market. Second, placing on the market means first making packaged products available in Poland for use or distribution, for payment or free of charge. Moreover, in defining the entity placing packaged products on the market, the legislature specifically identifies own-brand products commissioned from another business: the placing entity is the business that commissioned manufacture and subsequently placed the products on the market under its own brand. A manufacturer acting on behalf of that entity does not itself place the products on the market. Accordingly, transport between the customer and manufacturer should not constitute placing on the market. It is the customer that subsequently places the own-brand products on the market, generally when selling them to a third party.
Placing on the market and exports
The scheme’s obligations will not apply to products placed on the market and then exported or supplied outside Poland through an intra-Community supply in the same year.
A special transitional period for reusable glass bottles
For existing “private deposit schemes” operating efficiently in the brewing industry, the legislature has also provided a transitional period allowing full operation under existing rules until 31 December 2025. Bottles placed on the market before 1 January 2026 may be collected and deposits refunded under the existing rules until no later than 31 December 2026.
Conclusion
The transitional period, generally running from 1 October to 31 December 2025, is a crucial implementation stage. It gives businesses time to adapt production, logistics and sales to the new requirements. During this time, products may still be placed on the market in packaging not meeting the scheme’s requirements without obligations to charge deposits, apply the new markings or accept returns.
For reusable glass bottles covered by existing private schemes, a separate additional transitional period allows the existing arrangements to continue until the end of 2025, with bottles returned and deposits refunded until 31 December 2026.
Compliance depends on correctly establishing when products are placed on the market, including own-brand products manufactured by external suppliers. Businesses should analyse the legislation and commercial circumstances and, if in doubt, consider obtaining a legal opinion.
Find out more about the deposit return scheme.
