1. The Council, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the Treaty, shall decide no later than two years after the entry into force of this Directive on the marking of packaging.
2. To facilitate collection, reuse and recovery including recycling, packaging must indicate, for the purposes of its identification and classification by the industry concerned, the nature of the packaging material(s) used, on the basis of Commission Decision 97/129/EC (1). 
3. Packaging must have the appropriate marking affixed either on the packaging itself or on the label and it must be clearly visible and easy to read. The marking must be durable and remain so even when the packaging is opened.

All packaging must be appropriately labelled in accordance with the applicable UNI technical standards and in accordance with the determinations adopted by the European Union Commission, in order to facilitate the collection, reuse, recovery and recycling of packaging, as well as to provide consumers with correct information on the end uses of packaging.

Producers are also obliged to indicate, for packaging identification and classification purposes, the nature of the packaging materials used, based on Commission Decision 97/129/EC.