Europe deregulates packaging sizes
sizes for a whole range of consumer products such as ice cream,
frozen food, low alcoholic drinks and soft drinks.
However, a consultation of stakeholders made clear that some food and beverage sectors wished to maintain fixed sizes.
The EC says that the move is designed to promote product and process innovation and establish easier market access. It should also take away potential obstacles to competitiveness on the internal market and benefit small and medium sized enterprises.
"The proposal on deregulation of pack sizes goes in the direction of contributing to a competitive environment through standardisation and better regulation in the meaning of less regulation, less red tape, smarter and simplified regulation, accompanied by credible, deep impact assessment," said European commissioner Ján Figel.
Many believe that reform of Europe's packaging laws is long overdue. The existing rules date from the 1970s, when Member States' rules on pack sizes constituted barriers to trade, and Community rules were necessary to access markets.
However, social and economic changes have made reform of these longstanding laws inevitable. The deregulation follows decades of significant demographic change. Consumer tastes are now more diverse, families are becoming smaller and more citizens live on their own.
This has created lucrative new markets, such as ready meals, which in turn has created demand for diverse forms of packaging. The EC believes that the arrival of these new packaging formats has made current regulation obsolete.
"This proposal reflects the consensus arrived at after a wide consultation with national authorities, industry, users, consumers and other interested parties, based on an extended impact assessment," said EU enterprise commissioner Olli Rehn.
"While there is no doubt deregulation will greatly facilitate the introduction of updated and new products, stakeholders nevertheless remain free to use European standardisation, if they feel this can be helpful."
The Commission also took into account the fact that European consumer protection legislation is much more comprehensive than it was at the time of introduction of the sizes legislation. Elements that used to be covered by the prepackaged sizes legislation have now been consolidated in new legal instruments of consumer protection.
In addition, the introduction of unit pricing allows consumers to compare the price per litre/kilogram of products offered in different sizes. This is in line with the approach of the European Court of Justice.
The EC also found that sizes have now impact on environmental regulation. The proposal should therefore not impede the full and proper implementation of environmental law, notablythe prevention of waste requiring the minimisation of packaging.
But in four sectors - wine, spirits, soluble coffee and white sugar - a number of manufacturers indicated that free sizes might have large cost implications. These sectors are low growth and have price rises that are lower than average in food retailing. They also have major employment in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
Many firms are not flexible on packaging different sizes, and the fear is that necessary additional investment to cope with free sizes would, in the short term, have serious consequences for profitability and employment in small and medium sized enterprises.
The EC therefore has therefore proposed to let the exemption last for 20 years, the average lifetime of packaging machinery, after which these sectors should also be subject to full competition.
