Rules on the labelling of disposable beverage packaging in Slovakia

As announced in our article "Deposit system for disposable beverage packaging in Slovakia" (LINK: Slovakia: Deposit System for Disposable Beverage Packaging in Slovakia (ceelegalmatters.com)), a deposit system for some disposable beverage packaging will be introduced in Slovakia from 1 January 2022.

The Slovak Ministry of the Environment has submitted a draft regulation[1] implementing certain provisions of the Act on the deposit for disposable beverage containers[2] which regulates the labelling of PET bottles and cans subject to deposits.

Under the draft regulation, disposable beverage containers intended to be placed on the market in Slovakia must be marked with one of the graphic symbols shown below:

In addition, the regulation also lays down the minimum size of the graphic signs: for the one with the text 'Zálohované' (deposited), it is 10 mm; for the one without without text it is 7 mm.

Further additional rules for mandatory graphic labelling of disposable beverage packaging may be issued by the Slovak administrator of the deposit system. Currently, the administrator has not issued detailed guidance on this topic.

Although we do not anticipate that the draft graphic labeling will change, the regulation has not yet become effective and comments on the draft regulation may be submitted until 14 December 2021.

[1] Regulation of the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic No. 347/2019 Coll.

[2] Act No. 302/2019 Coll.