Korea International Trade Association

South Korean trade bodies launch support package for EU PPWR compliance

South Korea's trade association KITA and trade promotion agency KOTRA have launched support programmes to help small and mid-sized exporters, particularly in food and cosmetics, comply with the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, which took effect on 12 August 2026. KITA will provide training, on-site consulting and documentation help for declarations of conformity and technical files, while KOTRA has published a country-by-country PPWR implementation report focused on extended producer responsibility.

Why this mattersCompliance burden under PPWR's conformity-documentation requirements is pushing exporting countries to build dedicated support infrastructure for smaller suppliers into the EU market.

• The EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) took effect on 12 August 2026 across all 27 member states.
• The Korea International Trade Association announced on 14 October 2026 a PPWR support package for food and cosmetics exporters.
• KITA will run three sector-specific training sessions for 200 food and cosmetics industry staff in the first week of November 2026.
• KITA consultants will visit companies to check packaging compliance and assist with declaration of conformity (DoC) and technical documentation (TD).
• KOTRA published a report on 12 October 2026 on PPWR implementation by EU member state, focused on extended producer responsibility (EPR).
• KOTRA and the Korea Food Industry Association held an online briefing on 14 October 2026 covering PPWR rules in Germany, Hungary, Czechia and the UK.

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