In January of 2023, the Agencia Tributaria (Spanish Tax Agency) established a weight based, import tax on certain plastic packaging entering Spain.

Law 7/2022, the “Plastic Tax Law”, applies to the manufacture, import or intra-community acquisition of non-reusable plastics. The law aims to tax non-recycled plastic used in non-reusable plastic packaging. The tax is based on weight of the plastics in kilograms.

While the Plastic Tax is quite broad, there are several important exemptions. Notably, packaging used for medicines, sanitary products, plastic containers for research purposes in laboratories or hospitals and that are not meant for sale, are all excluded from the Plastic Tax.

When importing clinical and medical supplies that include plastic packaging it is important to indicate that the plastics are exempt from the plastic tax. Best practice is to declare the following on the invoice or supporting document:

• The end use of the products – i.e. laboratory use
• The type of plastic (reusable or non-reusable) and quantity in grams or kg
• Whether it is for hospital or research use (for commercial use (sale), it would not be exempt)

Please contact our Marken team at Tradecompliance@marken.com if you have any questions.