27 January 2022

FCM World News

FCM – EUROPE

PRINTING INK: GERMAN ORDINANCE COMES INTO FORCE

Federal Council adopts 21st Amendment to Consumer Goods Ordinance regulating printing inks and varnishes that directly or indirectly contact food; includes updated positive list of monomers, additives, colorants, solvents, and photoinitiators; phase in period set until the end of December 2026

The Printing Inks Ordinance amends the German Consumer Goods Ordinance and entered into force on December 8, 2021. The transition period for the new Printing Inks Ordinance will be four to five years, depending on the new provisions entering into force. The Printing Inks Ordinance also foresees an exhaustion of stocks for printed food contact materials and printing inks not intended to come into direct contact with food that are put on the market in accordance with the German Consumer Goods Ordinance prior its amendment, until December 31, 2025, and December 31, 2026, respectively. The Bundesrat in its decision on adoption of the Ordinance called on the German government to continue supporting the European Commission in reviewing the EU legal framework in accordance with the Framework Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 and to advocate the development of a uniform European regulation on printing inks. Other than an updated positive list, the new ordinance is substantially the same as the draft notified to the European Commission in 2016.

 

FCM – NORTH AMERICA

FEDERAL ACTION ON PFAS AND FOOD CONTAINERS

President Biden issued an executive order on clean energy and federal sustainability on December 8, 2021

The Section on Sustainable Acquisition and Procurement directs federal agencies to incentivize markets for sustainable products and services by prioritizing products that can be reused, refurbished, or recycled. The executive order does not give specific examples. However, a Fact Sheet on the executive order specifically mentions products without added perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as an example of sustainable products. Legislation banning PFAS in food containers was introduced on November 4, 2021. The Keep Food Containers Safe from PFAS Act, S.3169, would amend the U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prohibit, effective January 1, 2024, the introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce of food packaging containing intentionally added PFAS. The bill does not define either “food packaging” or “intentionally added.”