According to European Commission Resolution 2010/169/EU published on March 23, 2010, the European Commission has decided to revise the list of plastic additives used in the manufacture of food contact.
The European Commission defines "food contact materials" as materials and items that come into contact with food, including packaging materials, tableware, dishes, processing machines, containers, etc., and even materials and items that come into contact with human water.
European Commission Directive 2002/72/EC is related to food contact materials and articles. Its Annex III lists additives that may be used in the production of plastic materials and articles.
In 2004, the European Food Safety Authority approved the application of plastic packaging manufacturer Ciba to temporarily include the chemical substance "2,4,4'-trichloro-2'-hydroxydiphenyl ether" in the above-mentioned annex. On April 21, 2009, Ciba notified the European Commission that it believed that the chemical substance was no longer suitable for use as an additive in the manufacture of food contact plastics and therefore withdrew its application.
Subsequently, the European Commission decided to remove the above-mentioned chemical substances from the temporary list of additives in Annex III of Directive 2002/72/EC. The European Commission allows manufacturers to phase out products containing this chemical as additives during a transition period. Plastic materials and articles manufactured using this chemical substance and put on the market before November 1, 2010 can continue to be sold until November 1, 2011, but are still subject to national laws.
Therefore, manufacturers must withdraw plastic materials and articles using "2,4,4'-trichloro-2'-hydroxydiphenyl ether" as an additive from the EU market before November 2011.
For the content of European Commission Resolution 2010/169/EU, please visit the following webpage:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:075:0025:0026:EN:PDF
Reference: Hong Kong Trade Development Network 2010-04-09
