Commercial Information Circulars
24-hour hotline : 23 922 922
e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk
Ref : EIC 230/2/12
13 December 2011
Dear Sirs,
Commercial Information Circular No. 796/2011
European Union (EU)* : Regulations on Plastic Materials and Articles Intended to Come into Contact with Foodstuffs
Further to our Commercial Information Circular No. 65/2011 of 26 January 2011, the European Commission (the Commission) has adopted a Regulation amending and correcting Regulation (EC) No 10/2011 concerning plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. Details are set out in the Commission Regulation (EU) No. 1282/2011 (the Regulation), which can be accessed through the following link: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:328:0022:0029:EN:PDF
DETAILS
2. Commission Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 establishes a Union list of monomers, other starting substances and additives which may be used in the manufacture of plastic materials and articles. Recently the European Food Safety Authority issued a favourable scientific evaluation for additional substances which should be added to the current list. For certain other substances, the restrictions and specifications should be amended. In this regard, Annex I of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 is amended in accordance with the Annex of the Regulation.
3. The Regulation shall enter into force on 30th December 2011. In order to limit the administrative burden to business operators, plastic materials and articles which have been lawfully placed on the market based on the requirements set out in Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 but do not comply with the Regulation may continue to be placed on the market until 1 January 2013. Those plastic materials and articles may remain on the market until the exhaustion of stocks.
ENQUIRIES
4. For enquiries concerning the content of this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5556.
Yours faithfully,
(Miss Anita WONG)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry
* The EU includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Note ：
- (1) While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the above information, the Department cannot guarantee this to be so and will not be held liable for any reliance placed on the same.
- (2)The biweekly newsletter "Business Alert - EU" of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council provides up-to-date information on the latest developments in EU trade policy and trade regulations. The newsletter is available for free e-subscription and can be accessed through
http://www.tdctrade.com/alert/eualert.htm.