Press Release: The Commission defines the conditions for packaging waste disposal systems to be compatible with the European competition law in the DSD case

The European Commission has adopted a positive decision with obligations vis-à-vis a set of contracts concluded by Duales System Deutschland AG (DSD) concerning its system of selective collection and recovery of sales packaging waste. After having already adopted a groundbreaking abuse decision for this sector in the same case on 20 April 2001 this decision defines further the Commission's competition policy in the field of collection and the recovery of packaging waste. The Commission, for the first time, sets clear principles for the competitive assessment of exclusive, long-term service agreements in the waste management sector. Concerning DSD's service agreements this has led to significantly reduced contractual duration times. In addition the principle of free and unimpeded access to the collection infrastructure for competitors of DSD has been established. This decision takes into account the objectives of the relevant environmental legislation and it is expected that the consumer will benefit from overall lower disposal costs.