Articles · 2026-09-14
The empty-space rule is Article 24, not Article 10
Fifty per cent, not forty. From 2030, not 2026. And the article number matters, because a declaration of conformity names the articles you assessed.
We asked three assistants the same question in six languages. On the empty-space rule, four answers put it under the wrong article, and two gave the wrong number. It is a small thing to get wrong, and it lands in the one document where being wrong costs something.
Which article sets the empty-space rule?
Article 24 of Regulation (EU) 2025/40, under the heading obligation related to excessive packaging. Not Article 10, which is packaging minimisation, and not Article 12, which is labelling.
The two are related, which is probably why they get merged. Article 10 says packaging must be reduced to the minimum needed for function, safety and hygiene. Article 24 puts a number on one specific case.
How much empty space is allowed?
Fifty per cent, for grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging. Empty space is the difference between the volume of the packaging and the volume of what is inside it.
And the part that changes how a warehouse works: filler counts as empty space. Bubble wrap, air cushions, foam, paper cuttings, wood wool, polystyrene chips. You cannot meet the ratio by padding an oversized box. You have to use a smaller box.
Why is forty per cent quoted so often?
Because it was real once. Forty per cent appeared in the earlier drafts and in the industry debate around them. The adopted text says fifty.
That is worth knowing when an assistant tells you forty with confidence: it is not inventing the number, it is repeating a draft that was superseded.
From when does it apply?
Not yet, and the date has two halves. Article 24 applies from 1 January 2030, or three years after the implementing act that sets the calculation methodology enters into force — whichever is later.
The Commission is to adopt that methodology by 12 February 2028. Until it does, there is no agreed way to measure the ratio, which is precisely why the obligation waits for it.
What does apply now is Article 10. The duty to minimise weight and volume has been in force since 12 August 2026.
Why does the article number matter at all?
Because of Article 39 and Annex VIII. A declaration of conformity lists the requirements that were assessed for that packaging. If it cites Article 24 today, it claims an assessment against a methodology that does not exist yet. If it cites Article 10 for the empty-space ratio, it names the wrong duty.
A declaration is the one document where you take personal responsibility in writing. It is a poor place to repeat something an assistant said.
What we found when we asked
Six countries, three assistants, the same questions. On articles 5 to 12, one assistant was right every time, one was right in two languages out of three, and one was wrong in all five languages we put it in. The same model gave a correct map in Polish and a shifted one in Swedish — so the error lives in the answer, not in the model.
That is the whole reason we date every row and name every source in our country table: not because we are more careful by nature, but because we have watched confident answers disagree with each other.
What Tarafex does with this
Nothing automatic. Tarafex holds the packaging data — one row per separable component, the weight frozen on the day you shipped — and it does not calculate an empty-space ratio, because there is no agreed methodology to calculate it with. When there is one, the volumes will already be in the file.
It does not register you, it is not your authorised representative, and it does not file anything for you.
Sources: Regulation (EU) 2025/40, Articles 10, 24 and 39, Annex VIII. Checked 14 September 2026 against Regulation (EU) 2025/40. Not legal advice.