FSA Consultation Letter, 26 February 2008

CONTACT MATERIALS - Draft Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulation 2008

A copy of the full consultation document is available on this site. See: Plastics Consultation Letter

The Agency is consulting on a new insertion to the draft regulations. The insertion implements the remaining transitional provisions of Commission Directive 2007/19/EC, which provide the dates by which goods complying with the provisions of the Directive may be placed on the market and dates from which non-compliant goods will be prohibited from manufacture or import into the European Community. Responses are requested by: 21 March 2008

Consultation details

The implementation dates were mentioned in the previous consultation on these regulations, however we are conducting a short consultation to ensure stakeholders are aware of the dates of implementation and have the opportunity to comment.

A copy of the latest draft of the Regulations is attached at the link below. The main change introduced by the insertion into the draft Regulations are at Regulation 22(3), these relate to the transitional provisions contained at Article 3.1 (b) to (d) of Directive 2007/19/EC and these are:

• 3.1(b) prohibit the manufacture and importation into the Community of lids containing a gasket which do not comply with the restrictions and specifications for Ref Nos . 30340, 30401, 36640 , 56800, 76815, 76866, 88640 and 93670 laid down in Directive 2007/72/EC, as amended by Directive 2007/19/EC from 1 July 2008
• 3.1(c) prohibit the manufacture and importation into the Community of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food which do not comply with restrictions and specifications for phthalates Ref No. 74560, 74640 74880, 75100, and 75105 laid down in Directive 2002/72/EC as amended by Directive 2007/19/EC from 1 July 2008
• 3.1(d) without prejudice to point (b) and (c) above, prohibit the manufacture and importation into the Community of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food which do not comply with Directive 2002/72/EC as amended by Directive 2007/19/EC from 1 May 2009

Submitting comments on the draft regulations

We would welcome comments on this insertion of Regulation 22(3) into the draft proposed Regulations that relate to England . The intention of the transitional arrangements is to prohibit the manufacture and import of the relevant materials and articles after the various specified dates. Thereafter existing stocks can be marketed until exhausted. We would also welcome comments on any likely costs to you of implementing these provisions. Although we do not anticipate any cost implications arising from this insertion into the proposed Regulations, we are happy to receive any information to the contrary from you so that our Impact Assessment reflects the true situation for businesses and enforcement authorities.

Please also comment on:

• how the insertions at Regulation 22(3) in the proposed Regulations implement this Directive through the provisions outlined above
• any issues raised by the insertion at Regulation 22(3) in the proposed Regulations

Duration of consultation

The Consultation Criteria require that consultations are held for a minimum of 12 weeks. This consultation is for a shorter period to enable us to meet the deadline imposed by the European Commission for implementation of the Directive. A full 13-week public consultation was held on the draft regulations, which ended on 28 January 2008. The previous consultation documents are available at the link below.