New Regulation on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food

The long awaited new regulation on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food was finally published on January 14th 2011

For several years experts and the European Commission have discussed a consolidation of the legislation on materials and articles of plastic meant for food contact. Now the new regulation known as PIM – Plastic Implementation Measure – has been published in the official Journal of the European Union as EU No. 10/2011.

Some of the most important changes compared to the current Plastic Directive 2002/72/EC are as follows:

• The scope of the Regulation is expanded to include not only pure plastic but also multilayer plastic materials and plastic layers in multilayer multi material materials
• The test conditions for overall migration are set up in standard programs named OM1 – OM9 specifying contact time and contact temperature
• Tenax is introduced as a simulant for testing contact with dry foodstuffs
• Nanomaterials can be used in food contact materials provided they have been approved for the purpose by EFSA after an individual evaluation
• For contact times above 30 days at room temperature and below the article shall be tested in an accelerated test at elevated temperature for a maximum of 10 days at 60°C
• The declaration of compliance becomes mandatory at all stages of the manufacture of food contact materials made out of plastic except for the retail stage
• The new measure is a Regulation meaning that it will enter into force directly all over Europe without a transition into national legislation

The requirements of the new Regulation are not applicable immediately after the publication. The Regulation leaves room for the industry to adapt to the new demands concerning testing by mentioning various transition periods. Until January 1st 2013 all evidence of compliance has to follow the requirements of the old Plastic Directive 2002/72/EC. Until January 1st 2016 evidence may be provided either by the old test requirements or by the demands of the new Regulation. As from 2016 all documentation has to follow the new requirements of the Plastic Regulation.