Finland Faces EU Court Action for Violating Packaging Directive

The European Commission is bringing Finland before the Court of Justice of the European Communities for violating the EU directive on packaging waste. According to the Commission, Finland’s deposit system for beverage bottles and cans discriminates against imports and smaller breweries.

The Commission claims that Finland has not paid sufficient heed to EU rules on packaging in its legislation, and that it has not sufficiently implemented the rules in practice.

The complaint also points out that Finland has only one single deposit system for cans and bottles.

Under the EU directive, deposit and recycling systems should not exclude new entrepreneurs, and should not discriminate against imported products.

The EC has long been critical of Finland's beverage container deposit system, calling it discriminatory against both importers and smaller producers, and indicated already in July last year that it would bring Finland before the European Court.

The directives are designed to prevent recycling and deposit systems from setting up trade barriers or distorting competition.

Finland has one month to respond to the complaint.