Impact of Governance Structure on the Effective Implementation of the European Plastic Circular Economy—The Interlinkage of Law, Standards, and Industrial Practice

This study explored the governance structure that supported the implementation of the European plastic circular economy by examining the relationships among legal requirements, technical standards, industrial practices, and digital infrastructure. In recent years, the European Union (EU) has strengthened its circular economy policies through measures such as the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), and the Digital Product Passport (DPP). Researchers initially analyzed the impact of environmental regulations on global markets, global value chain (GVC) governance, and digital traceability systems as separate topics. Relatively little attention has been paid to how these elements incorporated as a single governance system. To bridge this research gap, this study introduced the concept of Institutional Translation and proposed an analytical framework encompassing three institutional domains, i.e., law, standardization, and industrial practice, to be supported by a cross-cutting digital infrastructure. Using qualitative mechanism mapping, the study explored how policy objectives were translated into operational practices. The findings underscored the effectiveness of the EU circular economy framework though it depended not simply on regulation, standards, or digital systems in isolation. The way these elements interacted was indeed the critical impetus. Policy objectives were translated into compulsory market conditions through legal mandates, operationalized through standards developed in interaction with the industry, and supported by digital infrastructures that facilitated traceability and compliance verification across value chains. In summary, the European circular economy framework extended beyond conventional environmental regulation by combining legal requirements, standardization processes, industrial practices, and digital infrastructures in a coherent governance arrangement. By introducing the concept of Institutional Translation, this study explained how circular economy policies were put into practice across complex value chains.