EUDR and packaging: when pallets, cartons and displays fall under the regulation

One pallet, two answers

Two companies, the same pallet, two different answers. For the manufacturer who sells it, the pallet is a relevant product. If the manufacturer imports the wood itself, it needs geolocation data, a risk assessment and a due diligence statement. If it buys sawn timber in the EU that has already been through due diligence, it is a downstream operator: it records its suppliers and customers and keeps the reference numbers of the due diligence statements where its supplier is itself an operator. The customer who loads the pallet with goods and sends it on needs none of that. If that customer later sells on an empty pallet that has already carried goods, that sale is outside the scope too.

This is not a loophole but the system at work. The regulation does not judge packaging by the object; it judges the role the object plays in the transaction at hand. In the written answers to the webinar held by the Bavarian chambers of commerce in May 2026, the packaging question comes up in four variants, and the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) answered it slightly differently each time, because each time a different case was meant.

The rule

Packaging is outside the scope from the moment it serves other goods, and it stays outside after that. It is inside the scope when the packaging itself is the subject of the transaction.

So the test question is: what leaves the company in this transaction? Goods with packaging around them, or the packaging as such?

What Annex I says

The exemption is not in a general provision. It is written out in individual wood and paper entries of Annex I. Since Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102 amended Annex I, headings 4415 and 4416 as well as the entry "ex 48" for paper and paperboard each carry two exemption texts, one for single-use and one for reusable packaging. Headings 4401 and 4405 carry only the single-use text, and the other wood headings carry none. For pallets under heading 4415 the two texts read:

Three elements carry the weight. Exclusively: a crate that carries goods and is also sold as furniture does not qualify. Presented with that product: the packaging has to reach the market together with the goods. From the moment they are used for such purpose and onwards: this addition appears only in the text for reusable packaging. The exemption begins with the first loading, not with manufacture. Selling the empty pallet comes before that. For single-use packaging the same follows from the requirement that it is used to support, protect or carry the goods and is presented with them.

The Commission's guidelines name the headings concerned: 4415 for packing cases, boxes, crates, drums, pallets, box pallets and pallet collars of wood, 4819 for cartons, boxes, bags and other packing containers of paper and board, with the same considerations applying to 4401, 4405 and 4416. For paper and paperboard, the same exemption text appears in the entry "ex 48". Chapter 47, pulp of wood, is also listed in Annex I at two-digit level with "ex", but it carries no packaging exemption. Printed matter of chapter 49 has been entirely outside the scope since the amendment of December 2025, which the BLE confirmed explicitly at the webinar. How to check your tariff codes against Annex I is explained in the article on Annex I and CN codes. What this means for pulp, paper and printed matter is covered in the guide to paper and packaging.

What the guidelines add

The guidelines set out two lists. The regulation applies to packaging material and containers placed on the market, made available or exported as a product in their own right, and to containers that give a product its essential character. It does not apply to single-use packaging presented with goods and used exclusively to support, protect or carry them, nor to reusable packaging in that same use, from the moment of that use.

The second item on the first list is the least conspicuous. According to the guidelines it concerns only a small share of goods, but where it applies, the container is a relevant product like any other. It covers containers that get their own tariff heading because they give the goods their essential character. For this the guidelines refer to the General Rules for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature.

Under Rule 5a, containers shaped to contain a specific article, suitable for long-term use, presented with the article and normally sold with it take the code of the article. They are outside the scope. The wooden case a watch is sold in is a typical example.

Under Rule 5b, ordinary packing is classified with the goods it contains where it is of a kind normally used for packing them. That packaging is outside the scope too; the carton around a television is an example. Under its second sentence, Rule 5b does not apply to packing that is clearly suitable for repetitive use, so a reusable pallet under the goods is not classified with them. It is still outside the EUDR, because of the exemption text for reusable packaging in Annex I.

FAQ 2.5 spells out what follows from this: whether the packaging is itemised separately on the invoice is irrelevant. What matters is whether it would be classified together with the goods or separately in an import or export scenario.

Fifteen cases from practice

The line about the online retailer is the most expensive one in the table. It hits companies that were confident packaging did not concern them and that buy cartons by the container from Asia. The FAQ settle the point in question 2.10 with a car manufacturer importing natural rubber tyres for its own production: it is an operator and has to submit a due diligence statement before release for free circulation. The BLE said the same for packaging. A company placing packaging material on the market as a standalone product for the first time carries the Article 8 obligation, whether or not it later only uses the material as packaging.

If you export packaging as a product in its own right, look at the case separately. If another company has already placed it on the EU market, or it was made from products already covered by a due diligence statement, you are a downstream operator at export and do not provide a reference number. Otherwise you are the operator and need a due diligence statement of your own. Which document codes then go into the export declaration is set out in the article on export and re-import.

Renting: the case almost everyone gets wrong

In FAQ 2.15 the Commission clarified that renting is not placing on the market. The question was added in the 4th iteration of April 2025 and is unchanged in the 5th. A supply within the meaning of the regulation requires an agreement transferring ownership or another property right. Renting out a pallet, a reusable crate or a load carrier transfers neither, so it is not a supply.

One exception remains, and it is the more important half of the answer: any product released for free circulation or placed under the export procedure counts as placed on the market, even where it is afterwards rented out. For a company that rents out reusable containers, that means the rental contract triggers no obligation, while importing new containers itself does. Containers that have already been used to support, protect or carry goods stay outside even when they are imported or exported.

For used material FAQ 2.6 goes further. Selling and renting used packaging to other companies is not covered, and the 5th iteration expressly includes packaging material that entered the EU under load and is subsequently sold. An importer that sells its single-use pallets to a reconditioner after unpacking therefore stays outside the scope.

Repair

For pallets that have been in service and are repaired and resold, FAQ 2.6 sets a rule of its own, and it surprises people in both directions.

The repaired pallet has to comply with the EUDR, but only as regards the new relevant products that went into the repair, which normally means the boards and blocks bought in. The old wood remains covered by the exemption. According to the FAQ, the seller of the pallet is an operator or a downstream operator, depending on whether the new wooden components have already been through due diligence. A reconditioner that buys boards and blocks from an EU supplier that received them with a statement therefore submits no statement of its own.

A pallet reconditioner therefore needs evidence only for its repair timber, not for its stock of used pallets: geolocation data and a due diligence statement of its own if it imports the wood itself, otherwise the details of its suppliers and customers. Where repairs use recycled wood only, the exemption for material that has completed its life cycle applies on top.

Recovered paper, recyclate and production scrap

This is where people reassure themselves too quickly. The guidelines draw the exemption narrowly: it covers goods produced entirely from material that has completed its life cycle and would otherwise have been discarded as waste. The examples given are wood recovered from dismantled buildings and goods made from coffee chaff.

By-products of a manufacturing process that uses material which is not waste are not covered. The guidelines show this at the sawmill: wood chips and sawdust fall under 4401 and therefore within the scope, because they can serve as firewood and have not completed their life cycle. They are exempt only in so far as they are used exclusively as packaging material, for example as cushioning in a crate.

For corrugated board with a high recovered-fibre share, that calls for care. The Commission notes in FAQ 2.8 that most products made from recycled paper contain a small share of virgin pulp or pre-consumer recycled paper, such as board offcuts from carton production, to strengthen the fibres. The regulation applies to the virgin pulp. Production scrap is less clear-cut: by-products of a manufacturing process are generally covered under Annex I, yet for chapters 47 and 48 Annex I expressly excludes recovered (waste and scrap) products and products derived from them. According to the BLE, whether a given material counts as waste or as a by-product is for the competent authorities to decide, using the same criteria as outside the EUDR. Anyone placing corrugated board or paper products on the market should know the fibre composition rather than pointing at the recycled share.

Alongside this sits a smaller exemption that helps in practice. Since Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102, note 5 to Annex I excludes samples of negligible value and quantity that serve only to solicit orders. Products that are completely used up or destroyed during examination, analysis or testing are excluded as well. FAQ 2.14 gives examples.

Displays, labels and other borderline cases

Product displays and cardboard stands. Raised at the webinar with a chocolate display, on the argument that it is printed and therefore printed matter. The BLE takes a different view: in its opinion, displays and stands are not used exclusively to support, protect or carry, and they are not packaging within the meaning of General Rule 5 either. The packaging exemption therefore does not apply. Which heading applies depends on the design. Since Annex I was amended in September 2026, the entry for chapter 48 also excludes marketing and information materials that exclusively accompany another product or are supplied free of charge for marketing or information purposes. A cardboard stand that a manufacturer gives retailers free of charge with its goods can fall under this. That exemption did not yet exist at the time of the webinar. For a binding answer the BLE refers you to customs, and we also recommend applying for binding tariff information.

Paper labels. Classified under heading 4821 and therefore in chapter 48, which is in Annex I. The packaging exemption does not help here, because a label does not support, protect or carry anything. Since Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102, however, there is a separate exemption: marketing and information materials that exclusively accompany another product or are supplied free of charge for marketing or information purposes are not covered. The recitals name labels explicitly. A label on the goods is therefore outside the scope. Anyone who sells, imports or exports labels as a product in their own right is inside. Printed products of chapter 49 are outside anyway.

Containers with essential character. The empty wooden gift box on a shop shelf is a product in its own right and inside the scope. Sold filled, it depends on the box. If it is shaped for specific contents, suitable for long-term use and normally sold with them, it is classified with the contents under Rule 5a and is outside. If instead it gives the whole its essential character, such as an elaborate wooden case holding a few chocolates, it is classified on its own and, according to the guidelines, stays inside.

Dunnage and wood wool. Outside as long as they serve exclusively as packing material. A distributor selling wood wool as decorative material is inside. The Commission names heading 4405 for this.

What happens at customs

Where the packaging is classified with the goods under Rule 5a or 5b, it has no separate item in the declaration. There is nothing to declare, no reference number and no document code. For single-use pallets, the webinar question about where to declare pallets in the German ATLAS system when they only support goods therefore has an unsatisfying but correct answer: nowhere. Reusable pallets are not classified with the goods under Rule 5b. If they are declared separately, the next paragraph applies.

Where the packaging is declared separately but falls under the packaging exemption, there has been a code of its own since the TARIC revision of 23 September 2026: Y190 for single-use packaging used exclusively to support, protect or carry another product and presented with it, and for reusable packaging from the moment of that use. The code exists only where Annex I expressly mentions the packaging exemption, that is for 4401, 4405, 4415, 4416 and chapter 48. Used packaging and products made from material that has completed its life cycle take Y133. Y129 remains for goods under an ex code from Annex I that are not covered at all, for instance because they are not made of wood. Also new are Y191 for marketing and information material covered by the exemption in chapter 48, such as a cardboard stand supplied free of charge, and Y187 for samples and products for testing. Which code applies when is set out in the glossary of EUDR TARIC codes.

Where the packaging is covered, it runs like any other relevant product: a due diligence statement in the information system before release, and the reference number with document code C716 in the customs declaration.

Two side notes that regularly save an argument. First, according to the FAQ, freight forwarders, transport agents and customs representatives are not operators or traders as long as they do not place goods on the market or export them themselves. Second, questions about ATLAS and about coding are for customs, not the BLE. That is also how the BLE answered the webinar question on whether the TARIC codes would be adjusted again.

No deferral for pallets and paper

A point that is almost always lost in the discussion about deadlines. Operators that are micro or small undertakings and were established as such by 31 December 2024 have until 30 June 2027. That deferral does not apply to products already listed in the Annex to the old EU Timber Regulation.

Pallets, cases and crates under heading 4415 are listed there, as are casks and other coopers' products under heading 4416, fuel wood, wood chips and sawdust under heading 4401, and pulp and paper of chapters 47 and 48. For the small pallet builder, the small cooperage, the small corrugated board plant and the paper wholesaler, 30 December 2026 therefore applies regardless of company size. Wood wool under heading 4405, by contrast, was not listed in the Annex to the Timber Regulation. The deferral does apply to it when a micro or small undertaking places it on the market as an operator. Which role and which deadline apply to you is settled by the EUDR check in two minutes.

Where the PPWR and the EUDR diverge

The same object can be packaging under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation and a relevant product under the Deforestation Regulation, and the two concepts do not line up. The PPWR asks about the function in relation to the product. The EUDR asks what is being supplied in this transaction.

Anyone serving both regimes needs the data only once: material, weight, origin, supplier. What the PPWR requires on top is in the article on the PPWR declaration of conformity and, for B2B, in the article on PPWR transport packaging.

Equipment for your own use

The question belongs in the same mental category and came up at the same webinar: do wooden sales counters, shelving and production equipment fall under the EUDR? The FAQ answer it in question 2.10 with two examples.

A company that buys wooden tables and chairs from a retailer in a third country and imports them itself is an operator and has to submit a due diligence statement before release for free circulation. That the furniture is then used only by its own staff changes nothing.

A company that buys the same furniture from an operator in the EU who imported it and submitted the statement, and uses it for its own staff, has no obligation. The FAQ put the reason briefly: the furniture is not supplied onwards.

So the dividing line does not run between own use and resale. It runs between importing from a third country yourself and buying in the EU. The item always has to be listed in Annex I in the first place, as new wooden furniture of headings 9401 and 9403 is.

The four most common misconceptions

1. Packaging is exempt as such. Only from the moment it serves other goods, but then for everything that follows. The sale of the new, empty pallet is not exempt.
2. If the pallet is on the invoice, it is relevant. The invoice does not decide; customs classification does.
3. Renting triggers the same obligations as selling. Renting is not a supply. Importing new containers for your rental fleet yourself, however, does trigger obligations.
4. As a small company we have until June 2027. Not for pallets, crates and casks, and not for paper and board. All of these were already in the Annex to the old EU Timber Regulation.

What to do now

1. Filter the range. Pull everything under headings 4401, 4405, 4415, 4416, 4819 and the rest of chapters 47 and 48 out of the item master, plus paper and board items with no tariff code recorded.
2. Check procurement routes. One question per type of packaging: do we import this ourselves from a third country, or buy it in the EU? As a mere user of the packaging, only the first makes us an operator.
3. Check the sales side. Do we sell or export packaging as such, including occasionally and including to group companies?
4. Look at repair and recyclate flows. New wood in repairs, pulp share in the board, by-products from your own production.
5. Settle the borderline cases. Do not try to settle displays, labels and essential-character containers internally. Apply for binding tariff information.

If you would like to see how Polygon One keeps packaging and goods in one structure, book a demo or read on at the product page for the EUDR module.

Download: EUDR packaging decision aid

One printable page: the rule, the case table with reasons, the deadline for pallets and paper and the four most common misconceptions.

• Download: EUDR packaging decision aid (PDF)

Frequently asked questions

Do pallets fall under the EUDR?

It depends on what happens to them. Sold, imported or exported as a product in their own right, they do. Carrying other goods, they do not, from the time of that use and for everything thereafter. The pallet manufacturer has obligations, as an operator or a downstream operator depending on where its wood comes from. A customer that loads the pallet with goods has none. If the customer resells the pallet unused, it is a trader and has the documentation obligations under Article 5.

Do cartons and pallets fall under the EUDR when we import packed goods from Asia?

The packaging around the imported goods does not; it supports, protects and carries. It is different when you import cartons or pallets as goods, by ordering a shipment of cartons. You then place them on the market as a standalone product for the first time and you are the operator for them.

Do I have to declare pallets in the customs declaration?

Single-use pallets classified with the goods under General Rule 5b have no separate item, and there is nothing to declare. Reusable pallets are not classified with the goods, because Rule 5b does not apply to them. If they are declared separately and serve only as packaging, code Y190 applies, and Y133 for used pallets. If they are covered, they need a due diligence statement and the reference number with code C716.

Does renting out reusable containers fall under the EUDR?

The rental itself does not. Under FAQ 2.15 a rented product does not count as placed on the market, because no ownership is transferred. A company that imports or exports new containers itself does carry the obligation for them, even if they are only ever rented out afterwards. Containers that have already been used to support, protect or carry goods are not covered when they cross the border either.

Do used pallets fall under the EUDR?

No. Selling and renting used packaging material to other companies is not covered, and neither is circulation in a closed exchange system. The 5th FAQ iteration expressly includes packaging that entered the EU under load and is sold afterwards.

What applies to repaired pallets?

Only the new relevant products that went into the repair count. Whoever sells the repaired pallet is an operator if the new wood has not yet been through due diligence, and otherwise a downstream operator. Where only recycled wood is used, the exemption for material that has completed its life cycle applies.

Are product displays and cardboard stands packaging?

Not within the meaning of the packaging exemption, in the BLE's view, because they are not used exclusively to support, protect or carry. Which heading applies depends on the design. Since September 2026, however, Annex I excludes from chapter 48 marketing and information material that exclusively accompanies another product or is supplied free of charge for marketing purposes. A cardboard stand that a manufacturer gives retailers free of charge with its goods can fall under this. For a reliable classification, binding tariff information is the right route.

Is corrugated board with a high recovered-fibre share exempt?

Not automatically. The exemption only covers goods produced entirely from material that has completed its life cycle. By-products are generally covered. Most recycled papers also contain a small share of virgin pulp or pre-consumer material, and the regulation applies to the virgin pulp. Annex I does, however, exclude recovered (waste and scrap) products of chapters 47 and 48 and products derived from them.

Does wooden equipment we only use ourselves fall under the regulation?

Yes, if you import it yourself from a third country, it is new and it is listed in Annex I, for example as wooden furniture of headings 9401 or 9403. Due diligence then has to be met at release for free circulation. If you buy it in the EU from an operator who submitted the statement, no obligation arises.

Do small companies have until June 2027 for packaging?

For most packaging, no. Pallets, cases and crates under heading 4415, casks under heading 4416, sawdust and wood chips under heading 4401 and pulp, paper and board of chapters 47 and 48 were already listed in the Annex to the old EU Timber Regulation. For them, 30 December 2026 applies regardless of company size. The deferral applies only to micro and small undertakings acting as operators, and among the packaging headings it covers only wood wool under heading 4405.

Sources and status: Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, Articles 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 26 and 38; Annex I as amended by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/2102, in force since 18 September 2026; Annex to Regulation (EU) No 995/2010; Commission guidelines, OJ C/2026/3896 of 20 July 2026, chapter 7(a) and (b); Commission FAQ, 5th iteration, questions 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.10, 2.14, 2.15 and 5.5; TARIC document on Regulation (EU) 2023/1115, revision 1 of 23 September 2026; General Rules 5a and 5b for the interpretation of the Combined Nomenclature; answers given by the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food at the Bavarian chambers of commerce webinar of 21 May 2026. As at 14 October 2026. This article does not replace a case-by-case assessment. Tariff classification is a matter for the customs administration, and enforcement of the EUDR in Germany is a matter for the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food.

Photos: Haberdoedas, Vida Huang, CHUTTERSNAP, Declan Sun, all via Unsplash.