EU Packaging Regulation 2025/40
Is your parcel more than 40% air?
Since 12 August 2026, e-commerce packaging placed on the EU market may not exceed a 40% empty space ratio. Measure any box against the limit in about thirty seconds.
In force since 12 August 2026
Empty space calculator
Enter the outer dimensions of your shipping box and the products that go inside it. Everything in centimetres.
Three things merchants get wrong
- Void fill counts as empty space
- Air pillows, crumpled paper and foam chips do not fill the box in the eyes of the regulation. Only the products count as filled volume.
- It is measured by volume, not by eye
- The ratio is empty volume divided by the total volume of the shipping box. A parcel that looks well packed can still be over.
- Exemptions must be justified, not assumed
- A higher ratio is allowed where it is technically unavoidable — for protection, safety or product integrity. That reasoning has to be documented, not just believed.
Guides
The 40% rule
The 40% empty space rule
Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 caps how much air you may ship. Here is what it actually says and how it is measured.
Guides→EPR for packaging
EPR for packaging, country by country
Extended Producer Responsibility makes you pay for the disposal of the packaging you put on the market. Registration is per country, and selling one parcel is enough to trigger it.
Guides→Green claims
The green claims your product pages can no longer make
From 27 September 2026 the Empowering Consumers Directive bans generic environmental wording, offset-based carbon neutrality and self-awarded eco labels. Most catalogues are full of all three.
Guides→Doing this for every order
Checking one box by hand is straightforward. Checking every product and box combination in a Shopify catalogue is not. We are building an app that reads your store, works out which combinations breach the limit, and keeps the documentation for you.
In development. No sign-up form yet — this page exists to be useful on its own.