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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