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The UK's proposed common retail packaging recycling logo has been criticised by the European Council for Packaging and the Environment (Europen).

Europen managing director Julian Carroll, in his submission to a consultation from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap), said the absence of a number of factors had caused "surprise and puzzlement" among the organisation's member companies.

The proposed logo, which shows the recyclability of the different components of a pack and aims to boost UK household packaging recycling rates, is already being trialled on around 24 Asda products.

But Carroll pointed out that, under the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, the decision to use the label would require prior notification to the European Commission because a government-funded organisation, Wrap, is one of the signatories.

He also highlighted the absence of any reference to the Green Claims Code, published in June 2000, which suggested the ISO 14021 standard was the "benchmark of good practice for this type of information".

Europen said that using a label risked "disruption of the EU internal market supply chain for packaging and confusion for consumers", and Carroll recommended copying other European nations' approach.

"Most [EU member states] communicate this type of information via local authorities and the appointed local collection schemes," he said.

BRC policy advisor Edward Cook said the purpose of holding a consultation was to "utilise the expertise" of stakeholders, and there were "likely to be amendments" to the scheme.

He said the BRC was reviewing submissions to the consultation and a response was due "shortly".

The BRC maintains that an on-pack logo would be useful to improve recycling rates, which are "not where we'd wish them to be", but that it would not replace information from local authorities.