The New Danish Packaging Tax: What It Means for Wine Importers
Image: Unsplash
Over the past weeks, I have spoken with five of our sponsors: L'Esprit du Vin, Vinmonopolet, Laudrup Vin & Gastronomi, Philipson Wine and Hans Just, about how the new packaging legislation is affecting their daily work. I also spoke with Tim Vollerslev, Vice President of the Danish Sommelier Association, about what these changes may mean for restaurants and for the broader wine industry in Denmark.
Over the past weeks, I have seen several posts and discussions on social media from Danish wine importers who are concerned about the new emballageafgift, the packaging tax that is now part of Denmark’s producer responsibility system for packaging.
I wanted to understand what these changes actually mean and why they matter for us as sommeliers.
They will affect how wines are priced, packaged, and maybe made available in the coming years.
What is the emballageafgift?
The emballageafgift, or packaging tax, is part of Denmark’s environmental plan to make producers and importers take more responsibility for the packaging they use.
The goal is to reduce waste, encourage more sustainable materials, and make companies pay a bigger part of the environmental cost instead of municipalities or consumers.
The law behind the new packaging responsibility system started in January 2025, and companies that import or sell packaged goods had to register and report packaging data earlier in the year.
The payment obligation, when companies will start to pay the tax, began on 1 October 2025.
Image: Unsplash
How it works
The tax is based on the type of material (for example glass, plastic, metal or carton) and the size of the packaging. It is important to note that it is not only the bottle that is covered by the legislation. A wine bottle contains several different packaging elements, and all of them must be reported and included in the system.
For wine, this includes the glass bottle itself, but also the cork or screw cap, the capsule or foil, the labels, the glue for the labels and any extra elements such as neck labels, wax seals, gift boxes or wooden cases. Each material has to be reported separately with its own weight and material type.
The importer, meaning the company that first brings the wine into Denmark, is responsible for registering, reporting and paying the tax. This includes collecting all data from the producer and making sure every part of the packaging is included in the report.
I reached out to our sponsors to get more information
To understand how the new legislation is being experienced in practice, I spoke with five of our sponsors: L'Esprit du Vin, Vinmonopolet, Laudrup Vin & Gastronomi, Philipson Wine, and Hans Just.
Their comments show how much work and uncertainty the new system has created for many importers.
At L'Esprit du Vin, Jørgen Christian Krüff said:
“We have had meetings with VSOD about EPR and we are surprised to see that the ways EPR is being implemented in Denmark and in the EU are being more or less accepted.
Editor’s note: VSOD is Vin og Spiritus Organisationen i Danmark, the Danish Wine and Spirits Organisation.
Editor’s note: EPR stands for Extended Producer Responsibility, or Udvidet Producentansvar in Danish. It is the EU-based system that forms the background for the new Danish packaging tax.
It would have been wiser and more instrumental to meet the objectives with more environmentally friendly packaging and less waste less harmful to the environment, if the administration of the reporting and the taxation had been placed at the sources of packaging i.e. the manufacturers, who are in the best position to report and inform the materials each kind of packaging is made of as well as the dimensions and the weight etc.
“We are afraid that the EPR as it has been implemented will not lead to any significant improvement of the environment and that the efforts to diminish waste will be a waste.”
It would then be up to the purchasers of the packaging from the manufacturers to decide, which categories of packaging they would buy from them, and the taxation and the administrative costs would be an integrated part of the prices for the packaging items.”
He also pointed out that, “it’s only the companies in the EU that are suffering from the administrative burdens and the taxes being levied on the companies bringing packaging into their national market – whereas companies outside the EU are free to sell goods with whichever packaging directly to consumers in the EU (Temu etc.) without any EPR taxation or administrative burdens.”
Krüff underlined that L'Esprit du Vin supports environmental action but is disappointed in how the rules were made:
“As we have in the past 20+ years been certified for our importation and distribution of certified organic and biodynamic wines, and we are the oldest supporter of WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) in Denmark, we are welcoming all measures that aim at keeping our environment as healthy and natural as possible, and we are sad to see that the authorities in the EU and Denmark have not been wiser with the EPR legislation and the implementation hereof.”
He finished with a clear message:
“We are afraid that the EPR as it has been implemented will not lead to any significant improvement of the environment and that the efforts to diminish waste will be a waste.
A waste in a very expensive packaging.”
At Vinmonopolet, Tjalfe Stenild Arnstrup described how the new system already affects their daily work:
“We are experiencing a system that is implemented without being fully developed. It is an increase in price to customers but it is also a big bureaucratic burden. At Vinmonopolet; we would like to support the transition into lighter weight bottles and sustainable practices, but it seems to be forced where it is the end customer is the victim.”
He said that “all cost prices have been raised” and that the administrative process “has been greatly affected with a heavy rapporting and a very large amount of data that has to be managed and updated.”
Vinmonopolet already works closely with producers to lower glass weight, which “will likely speed up a little bit,” but he expects the coming years to be challenging:
“It is already a very difficult market, I expect it will become even more difficult in the future.”
“Hiring more administrative personal to handling the data and the rapportting. Also looking or/and demanding for lighter weight bottles and more sustainable options.”
His advice to others was simple:
“Get on top of it now, start working now: it won't go away. Everything from getting the data correctly implemented to getting a ‘own-check program’ in place.”
He also warned that “it is already a very difficult market, I expect it will become even more difficult in the future.”
Speaking on behalf of Laudrup Vin & Gastronomi, sommelier and wine consultant David Ekberg said:
“We used a lot of time to implement it on our products. Our purchase manager needed to skip other tasks in order to get finished in time. All our prices are now in ranges that do not really fit in traditional sales points, so we have used a lot of energy to adjust the price on all our products.”
He continued:
“We only have one person to purchase and with more than 2500 different products, it has been a huge job to administrate the new taxes.”
“We only have one person to purchase and with more than 2500 different products, it has been a huge job to administrate the new taxes. The issue is that it’s our responsibility to obtain the data. Fortunately, our suppliers have been really helpful with information, but we also had to do a lot of work ourselves.”
Ekberg said that “we need everybody in, because otherwise it will be unfair competition,” and that the system should be more simple. His advice to smaller importers was:
“Know the size of the job before you start. If you are a small importer I would recommend hiring a data specialist for a task like this, to make sure that everything is set up the right way from the beginning.”
He also shared his view on what this could mean for the future:
“I think in general that these types of new rules will strangle small importers because there is no chance that they can manage a job like this and sell wine at the same time.
The prices have already increased significantly and especially on the cheaper house wines this really makes it difficult to make money in a market that’s already under a huge pressure. The end customer will not spend more on the wine, so the restaurants will not accept a higher price if it’s the same product. Maybe they will go with a cheaper wine, but a change always means a risk of losing the sale, so my guess is that many importers and sales persons will give this as an extra discount. In the end it will mean that it's even harder to make money and the gap between the big and strong and the small will be even bigger in the following years.”
“The system has proven far more complex than expected, and the requirements for data collection, documentation, and reporting affect every part of the value chain. ”
From Philipson Wine, Sales Director On-Trade Frans Fossing explained:
“We experience the new packaging fee as both an administrative and financial burden. The system has proven far more complex than expected, and the requirements for data collection, documentation, and reporting affect every part of the value chain. Furthermore, the temporary suspension of the volume-based packaging tax in 2026–2027 has an unfortunate side effect: companies like ours, which have already paid the tax on goods in stock, receive no refund. In practice, this means paying twice for the same packaging.”
He added:
“We’ve had to establish new internal systems to record packaging types, weights, and materials for thousands of products. That requires close cooperation with our producers and IT adjustments. In addition, the lack of refund for packaging tax already paid has led to a notable capital tie-up in goods that have already been taxed.”
On working with producers, he said:
“We work closely with our producers, but it’s a challenge. Many are small, family-run wineries without the digital tools needed to provide detailed packaging data. We assist them where possible, but it’s time-consuming and resource-intensive.”
He also said:
“The industry needs to strengthen data sharing and digitalization. There’s a need for common standards and potentially a shared platform for packaging data management.”
And finally:
“If no adjustments are made, Denmark could become a less attractive market for imports. The administrative complexity and added costs may discourage smaller producers, reducing diversity in the market.”
At Hans Just, Sales and Marketing Coordinator Kathrine Poulsen explained that the new legislation is difficult not only for their wine suppliers but also for their customers in the trade:
“Very complex and time consuming. And very difficult for our suppliers/partners to understand. By partners it is both winesuppliers but also customers (Trade).”
She explained:
“Each SKU has been impacted by the new fees which obviously are extra costs. Internally it has taken immense resources to implement the new legislation and also to guide our suppliers through the system to make sure that they understand what input is needed from them. We have spent a lot of time + employed a new person to collect, update and implement data.”
“Producers need to look into more sustainable bottles, caps, foils etc. But joint approach within EU countries would make the task so much easier.”
On collecting data, she said:
“We have sent out individual e-mails to our suppliers with links to their products in order for them to fill out the formulas themselves. We have created youtube videos to take them through the system.”
And for the future:
“Producers need to look into more sustainable bottles, caps, foils etc. But joint approach within EU countries would make the task so much easier.”
“The risk is that only big importers have the resources to handle all the administration, so smaller importers and their own restaurant imports will decline. Maybe a risk of small establishments buying without paying UPA.”
Editor’s note: SKU means Stock Keeping Unit. It is the unique product code used internally for each wine or spirit in the importer’s catalog.
Editor’s note: UPA means Udvidet Producentansvar, the Danish term for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). It is the legal system behind the new packaging legislation.
The restaurant perspective
The new packaging laws do not only affect importers. They affect the whole wine and restaurant industry, but especially the smaller importers and restaurants that rely on them for diversity and special selections.
I called Tim Vollerslev, Vice President of the Danish Sommelier Association, who spoke about how the new regulations will influence the restaurant sector.
“With the new legislation, there is a risk that this diversity will shrink as smaller importers struggle to keep up with the administration and costs.”
He pointed out that the administrative burden can be especially heavy for small companies and importers. Many of them may need to spend much more time on reporting and compliance, which could reduce the diversity of beverages available in Denmark.
He also mentioned that while of course we must care for the environment, the way the system has been implemented is very bureaucratic and difficult to handle, especially for smaller businesses.
Tim noted that Denmark’s strength has always been its open import system. It allows restaurants to build unique and creative wine lists and gives sommeliers access to wines that are not found in monopoly countries such as Sweden, Norway, or Finland.
“With the new legislation, there is a risk that this diversity will shrink as smaller importers struggle to keep up with the administration and costs.”
He also raised a possible solution that has been discussed in the industry:
to standardize the fees for different packaging elements such as bottles, labels, and caps.
This could make reporting easier and help importers comply with the new requirements without losing too much time or money.
What’s next
The financial part of the new system started in October 2025, which means importers are now officially paying the packaging tax.
According to the press release of 11 September 2025, the Danish government will phase out the old volume based packaging tax in 2026 and 2027 as the new producer responsibility rules take over. Under these rules, the importer (from what I can understand) is considered the producer when wine is brought into Denmark.
As sommeliers, it is useful to understand these changes, since they will influence not only importers but also how wines are priced, distributed, and packaged in the future.
