The EU has amended a number of regulations on plastic materials and articles, recycled plastic materials and articles in contact with food.

According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU, the EU has just announced the issuance of the amended regulation (EU) 2025/351, amending Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011 on plastic materials and articles in contact with food, amending Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 on recycled plastic materials and articles in contact with food, repealing Regulation (EC) No. 282/2008 and amending Regulation (EC) No. 2023/2006 on good manufacturing practices for materials and articles in contact with food related to recycled plastics and other issues related to quality control and production of plastic materials and articles in contact with food.

The above amendments will enter into force on 15 March 2025 and apply in the Member States.

Commission Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 lays down specific rules relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. In particular, Chapter II of the Regulation sets out compositional requirements for plastic materials and articles intended to ensure that the final plastic material intended to come into contact with food is sufficiently safe to meet the requirements of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004.

The above amendments redefine the concepts such as “recycled”, “additives”, “purity” of plastic products, and amend the chapters on plastic purity, general requirements for compounds, General restrictions and requirements relating to the composition of plastic materials and articles, and labelling.

Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 sets out rules relating to quality assurance systems for the collection, pre-treatment, decontamination and recycling of plastic waste materials. It sets out rules for the recycling of plastic by-products from the manufacture of plastics. To further enhance food safety, detailed rules on good manufacturing practices are set out in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006 on recycling and reprocessing.

Source: Nong Nghiep Newspaper