How to make sense of packaging regulations

European and national legislation on packaging is a confusing business. The EU Directive (92/62/EC) has just been revised, and targets for packaging waste recovery and recycling have been increased. The definition of packaging has been amended and new prevention obligations have been introduced.

"The new directive is currently in draft form, and is pulling all the old directives together,"​ Dr Steve Anderson, Europen's chairman of the regulatory affairs committee told FoodProductionDaily.com.​ "Any packaging that comes into contact with food must meet certain standards of safety, and traceability will soon be a legal requirement in the EU."​

A lot of new legislation is already in place. PET bottles destined for recycling must be fully traceable to ensure that there is no extraenous contamination.

But things are far from clear in other cases. Germany's notorious new deposit system has caused confusion among manufacturers, bottlers and consumers, and is a good example of the complexity of understanding both national and EU legislation.

"Germany is a difficult situation,"​ said Anderson. "The national government has changed the legislation so that it sees packaging as either 'good' or 'bad'. We at Europen are against that, and we are trying to fight the duplication of this concept across other countries."​

This issue was touched upon in Rexam CEO Rolf Borjesson's opening speech at Total 2004. He said that the beverage can market in Germany had been hit hard by the deposit regulation, which he admitted has impacted on Rexam's sales. The company lost 1.4 billion units in Germany last year.

"You need to put this in perspective though,"​ he said. "We sold 50 billion units worldwide. We have been able to compensate our losses in that sector."​

Like Europen, Rexam is lobbying hard to scrap the system. "It doesn't work,"​ said Borjesson. "The main idea of it is to protect the German brewing industry, nothing else. It's not an environmental measure. There are a couple of court cases in Luxembourg at the moment, and Brussels is upset about the situation."​

One problem for Europen in its fight against the German government is the fact that some of its members produce packaging that has been defined as 'good'. Anderson says that the body will nonetheless continue to fight the issue at the European level.

Dr Anderson was at Total 2004 in Birmingham, UK to launch Europen's comprehensive new guide to European environmental laws and regulations affecting packaging. The organisation believes that every company is affected by Europe's packaging legislation, but few understand its impact on their business and the legal obligations this imposes. The guide therefore makes for essential reading.

The guide provides a summary and explanation of both national and EU legislation across 30 European countries, something that Anderson believes is of vital importance to both multinationals and local food producers.

"If you are a multinational company operating across Europe, you need to know how legislation will be implemented in each member state,"​ he said. "This guide gives you the subtle differences in each country. If you operate in one country or many, this guide's for you."​

The guide also covers the Essential Requirements. "Companies must meet these requirements if they wish to market their product throughout Europe,"​ said Anderson.

Europen is the only pan-European organisation dedicated exclusively to issues concerning packaging and the environment. The organisation's twin goals are to secure a fully accessible European market for packaging and packaged prodcuts without obstacles to trade and to achieve a balanced view on the role and functions of packaging and related environmental aspects.

The new guide on European and national legislation on packaging and the environment is now on sale priced £60.