Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : EIC 230/2/12

18 February 2003

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 58/2003

European Union (EU)* :Directive on Plastic Materials and Articles Intended to Come into Contact with Foodstuffs

The European Commission (EC) has adopted a Directive consolidating rules on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. The aim of the measures is to ensure that plastic materials and articles, in their finished state, must not transfer their constituents to foodstuffs in quantities which could endanger human health or bring about an unacceptable change in the composition of the foodstuffs. Details are set out in the Commission Directive 2002/72/EC (the Directive), a copy of which is attached (pdf format) to this Circular for reference.

DETAILS

1.  

2. Measures relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs were established in 1990. In view of the amendments made on various occasions, the Directive was adopted to provide a consolidated set of rules on the products concerned for the sake of clarity and rationality. Such rules have already been in force (except those specified in the sub-paragraphs (c), (d) and (g) below). Salient points of the Directive are summarised as follows:

   1. the Directive applies to plastic materials and articles and parts thereof, which in the finished product state, are intended to come into contact or are brought into contact with foodstuffs. The materials and articles should either consist exclusively of plastics or be composed of two or more layers of materials, each consisting exclusively of plastics, and are bound together by means of adhesives or by any other means;
       

   2. plastic materials and articles shall not transfer their constituents to foodstuffs in quantities exceeding 10 milligrams per square decimetre of surface area of the material or article. For certain articles such as caps or similar devices for sealing, a higher limit of 60 milligrams of the constituents released per kilogram of foodstuff is allowed;
       

   3. a list of monomers and starting substances that may be used for the manufacture of plastic materials and articles is provided in Annex II of the Directive. By way of derogation, substances listed in Section B of Annex II may continue to be used until 31 December 2004 at the latest;
       

   4. an incomplete list of additives, which may be used for the manufacture of plastic materials and articles, together with the restrictions and/or specifications on their use, is set out in Annex III of the Directive. For substances listed in Section B of Annex III, the specific migration limits are applied as from 1 January 2004;
       

   5. only the products obtained by means of bacterial fermentation listed in Annex IV of the Directive may be used in contact with foodstuffs;
       

   6. in view of the potential liability, at the marketing stages other than the retail stages, plastic materials and articles which are intended to be placed in contact with foodstuffs shall be accompanied by a written declaration. However, this requirement does not apply to plastic materials and articles which by their nature are clearly intended to come into contact with foodstuffs; and
       

   7. previous directives on this subject as set out in Part A of Annex VII of the Directive are repealed without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States in respect of the deadlines for transposition into national law and application as laid down in Part B of Annex VII.

ENQUIRIES

3. For enquiries about the contents of this Circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5684.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Sandra SOU)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* : The EU member states are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.