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SGS offers testing services to meet new EU packaging norms

08 Nov '13
5 min read

Packaging and Packaging Waste Management and the REACH Regulation

During transport packaging needs to perform well. As for packaging material, its physical performances as well as chemical properties have to be compliant with a series of regulations and standards regarding customers’ health as well as sustainability and other environmentally friendly criteria.

The European Union REACH regulation covers the general registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals in consumer products manufactured or imported within the EU zone and entered into force in June 2007. This chemical regulation naturally also applies to packaging. Not only does this regulation require manufacturers and importers to provide safety information on every chemical substance used in the products, but it also controls and sets the level of all chemicals.

Packaging such as plastic wrap or a carton can contain a substance, a mixture or an article. Under REACH, the packaging is considered as a separate article from the substance, mixture or article that it contains and must comply with the requirements for articles, including substances of very high concern (SVHCs) from the Candidate List.

Packaging with different functions (primary, secondary or tertiary) is also considered separately. For example, for an article wrapped in plastic (primary packaging) and then packed into a carton box (secondary packaging), both plastic and carton box are considered as separate articles.

Directive 2013/2/EU and the REACH regulation are both intended to improve the protection of human safety as well as the environment by limiting contact with dangerous or hazardous substances with the skin or the mouth as well as the risk of polluting natural environments.

Whether food, cosmetic products or toys, packaging needs to be strictly regulated to avoid the transfer of chemicals and toxic substances from the package to the product or, worse, to the consumer.

Harmonization of Local Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulations

With increased environmental and health concerns as well as ever growing worldwide imports and exports, local and national packaging regulations such as the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations in the United Kingdom or the US Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Fair Packaging and Labeling Act tend to harmonize in order to ensure worldwide compliance and facilitate the manufacturers’ attempts to provide products that conform to every market.

For manufacturers and importers, it is not yet sufficient to comply with the ‘Packaging and Packaging Waste’ Directive in order to import their products into Europe. Yet all regulations, standards and directives have the tendency to merge or converge in terms of norms and authorized levels in order to facilitate the compliance process.

As for the EU more specifically, the upcoming Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) regulatory approaches on sustainable and environmental packaging might soon be a new compliance issue for European manufacturers in every industry.

SGS

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