When it comes to packaging, Europe has no time to waste. Discussions in Brussels over new EU packaging rules are in full swing – and will likely stretch well into next year. Now that the EU Institutions are into the adoption process of the new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), it’s high time that key concerns by European distillers are properly understood and taken on board by decision makers. So what kind of rules do Europe’s spirits producers need so that they can continue to improve the sustainability performance of their packaging whilst also preserving the fundamental functionality, safety, unique features and designs of their iconic bottles?
When it comes to spirits and packaging, the most important point to keep in mind is that unique glass bottle designs – and more than 90% of spirit drinks are currently sold in glass bottles – are such a central, indispensable part of the product. In other words, the unique size and shape of a spirit drink bottle is an integral part of respective drink’s IP and cultural heritage. Many traditional bottle designs – especially those of the more than 250 spirit drinks with Geographical Indication (GI) status – date back well into the last century and are specifically linked to particular drink categories, regions and local craftmanship traditions. For these products, which are part of Europe’s cultural heritage, drastic changes to the traditional packaging could have far-reaching negative consequences. Packaging standardisation could lead to a loss of product identity, brand recognition and value and could eventually ring the death knell for many products currently on the market, thus limiting consumer choice and hampering the competitiveness of the sector.
To be clear, design elements have added to bottle weight in the past – and will likely to do so to a certain degree in the future. However, this doesn’t mean that progress is impossible. Far from it, spirits drinks producers have successfully demonstrated over the past years that a balance can be struck, meaning that unique bottle designs and brand identities can be maintained all the way while achieving progressive reductions in bottle weight at the same time. It’s a virtuous circle that makes good business sense (especially in times of record-high bottle prices) whilst delivering tangible sustainability benefits (less product weight) and protecting consumers (safeguarding product safety by preventing breakage or counterfeiting).
Looking at the current plans for new packaging minimisation criteria in the PPWR, it is fair to state that EU decision-makers are not planning to kill design for the sake of standardized bottles. However, in the way that the rules are currently drafted, this is exactly how it could play out in the future. In the way that packaging minimisation criteria are sketched out at the moment they will severely restrict design choices that might add any sort of weight to packaging and severely limit unique shapes (e.g. a square bottle is heavier than a round one), patterns, decorations, and embossing. So, de facto, Europe could be heading down the road towards standardized packaging – with the concomitant damage and losses described above.
In light of this, it is puzzling and irritating to hear certain NGOs in Brussels have labelled such concerns as “false or overinflated”. With regards to the spirits sector, the risks are plausible, sizeable and real – also under fundamental functional safety aspects. Whether intended or not, a standardization trend of bottle shapes in spirits will definitely have spillover effects on counterfeit risk, as “look alike” bottles will become easier and cheaper to produce at scale the more standardized and simpler packaging will become. Product elaboration and diversity thus is about so much more than just design. With regards to counterfeits and spirits, it can and certainly does act as an effective entry barrier to mass fakery.
So what is to be done? The above aspects need to be considered and balanced. And adequate specifications and exemptions must be included in the new PPWR to avoid undue standardisation risks and the negative consequences they would cause. Discussions have already started yet a final deal has to take into account product- and sector-specific needs and ensure that minimisation criteria do not tread on existing Intellectual Property Rights including design rights, trademarks (three-dimensional trademarks), copyrights and patent rights.
For the spirits sector, glass bottles are at the crossroads of functional safety, consumer choice, product identification, competitiveness, and environmental sustainability. The sector will continue to advance in all of these areas in the years to come. But it needs a framework to continue to flourish and innovate. Yes, the new PPWR must be ambitious and deliver tangible sustainability benefits in the years to come. But it would be unnecessary, risky and counterproductive to end up in a marketplace that is dominated by monotony due to universal standardization. Also when it comes to packaging, the EU is at its best when it remains true to its founding motto and remains a place that is ‘united in diversity’.
