June 2018

June 2018 

Food contact materials

EU postpones work on harmonised measure for printed products

The Commission announced that the EU measure on Printed Food Contact Materials has been put on hold for political reasons. As a result, there is a risk that Germany will move to have its Ordinance for Printing Inks enter into force, as it had been put on hold awaiting progress at a European level.

 

Turkey adopts new food contact legislation

On the 5 April 2018, Turkey published 2 new regulations in the Official Gazette: one general regulation on food contact materials and one focusing specifically on active and intelligent materials for food contact. The new legislation aligns rules in Turkey with the relevant EU regulations. With the exception of some provisions, the deadline to conform with new laws is the end of 2018.
 

REACH/CLP and biocides

Member States to evaluate 21 substances in 2018 

ECHA has adopted the updated Community rolling action plan (CoRAP), with 108 substances listed for evaluation in 2018-2020. Registrants of the listed substances are encouraged to coordinate their actions and contact the evaluating Member States.

2018-2020 CoRAP list

Registrants: get ready to comment on the 2017 substance evaluation draft decisions

ECHA is preparing to send out the draft decisions on information requests for 16 substances to registrants for comments. Because of the REACH 2018 registration deadline, draft decisions on 15 substances will be sent later than usual. The registrants will have 30 days to submit their comments.

BREF STS

At the beginning of June, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission organised a stakeholder workshop to discuss comments received to the 1st draft of the revised BREF STS document. Afera, together with a range of other associations, joined the meeting to exchange views. As a next step, a revised draft will be issued in Q3 2018, followed by a final meeting tentatively scheduled for November or December of this year.

Sustainability/recycling/waste legislation

Circular Economy: New rules adopted by EU Member States

In June, The Official Journal of the European Commission finally published the so-called Circular Economy Package, which includes a set of ambitious measures to make EU waste legislation fit for the future as part of the EU's wider circular economy policy.


The rules set out a recycling target of 55% for municipal waste by 2025, moving to 65% by 2045. For plastic packaging, there is a 50% target in 2025 and a 55% target in 2030, while paper and cardboard will have a 75% recycling rate target for 2025 and an 85% for 2030. In addition, landfill must be reduced to 10% or less of the total amount of municipal waste generated by 2035, and new requirements for extended producer responsibility will be established.

 

European Paper Recycling Council moves forward on Ecodesign of printed paper products

An update has been made to the European Paper Recycling Council’s (EPRC) “Assessment of Printed Product Recyclability”. This Scorecard for the Removability of Adhesive Applications now includes an annex for applications where there is sufficient experience and confidence that they will deliver good results on removability.


Non-water-soluble or non-dispersible hot melt adhesives are now exempted from testing under certain conditions. If an adhesive application does not conform to with the conditions in this annex, no conclusion can be made about its removability. The updated scorecard can be found here.

 

Notification of SVHCs to be required under EU waste directive 

An amendment to EU waste framework directive foresees the obligation for suppliers to notify the European Chemicals Agency of Substances of Very High Concern (SVCH) present in articles. The proposed amendment aims to ensure non-toxic material cycles so recycled waste can be used as a reliable source of raw material. The European Parliament is expected to vote on the proposal in mid-April 2018 after which the European Council would formally adopt the amendment by the end of July 2018.

 

April 2018
February 2018

 

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