On 20 October 2009, the Official Journal of the EU published Regulation 975/2009 amending Commission Directive 2002/72/EC relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. Hong Kong’s plastic packaging and cling-film exporting industry should pay specific attention to this amending Regulation as it controls the criteria which these and similar products must meet in order to be placed on the EU market.

Directive 2002/72/EC sets out a list of monomers and other starting substances, which may be used for the manufacture of plastic materials and articles which are intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. Directive 2002/72/EC also provides for restrictions on the use of monomers and other starting substances, as well as rules on labelling and on the information to be given to consumers or food business operators for the correct use of these materials and articles. The Directive also contains a Community list of additives which may be used for the manufacture of plastic materials and articles. Following further evaluations by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), additional monomers and starting substances as well as additional additives have been approved and can now be added to the existing list.

Directive 2002/72/EC does not cover:

• varnished or unvarnished regenerated cellulose film;
• elastomers and natural and synthetic rubber;
• paper and paperboard, whether modified or not by the addition of plastics;
• surface coatings obtained from waxes;
• ion-exchange resins;
• silicones;
• materials and articles composed of two or more layers, of which at least one does not consist of plastics.

Approved substances include:

• monomers and other starting substances which may be used in the manufacture of plastic materials and articles (as set out in the Directive’s amended Annex II);
• additives which may be used in the manufacture of plastic materials and articles (as set out in the Directive’s amended Annex III).

Both lists in Annex II and Annex III set out the specific conditions of use of the substances in question and the maximum limits of specific migration to foodstuffs (expressed in mg/kg). These limits are expressed in mg/dm2 of the packaging surface area for containers with a capacity of less than 500 millilitres or more than 10 litres; or for sheet, film or similar materials.

The latest amendment in Regulation 975/2009 finalises the drawing up of a single positive list of additives that may be used by producers in their products. Accordingly, the amended list will now become a final and positive Community-encompassing list of authorised additives from 1 January 2010 onwards. Until 31 December 2009, additives which are not included in the positive list of additives may continue to be used by traders, subject to national law.

Keeping the above information in mind, Hong Kong traders may like to view the 2002 Directive (2002/72/EC) and the new amending Regulation (975/2009), the links of which are provided below:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:2002L0072:20070420:EN:PDF

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:274:0003:0008:EN:PDF