Keller and Heckman Partners Cynthia Lieberman and Hazel O’Keeffe will be presenting at the Sustainable Paper & Fiber Packaging for Food Contact Conference, to be held on May 3-4, 2022, virtually and onsite in Cologne, Germany. Cynthia will provide an overview of regulations applicable to food-contact paper in the EU, including regulations for recycled paper. Hazel will give an update on single-use plastic and packaging directives and their impact on the paper packaging industry.
Keller and Heckman Partner Rachida Semail will be one of the speakers at the virtual 29th MCAS Seminar, to be held March 16, 2022. The title of her presentation is: Feuille de route de la Commission Européenne concernant la révision de la réglementation contact alimentaire (European Commission roadmap for the revision of the food contact regulation). All the presentations will be in French.
Keller and Heckman Partner Hazel O’Keeffe will be one of the speakers at the International Seminar on Biotechnology Applied to the Plastics Sector, to be held virtually on March 1-2, 2022.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a Guidance Document on Scientific criteria for grouping chemicals into assessment groups for human risk assessment of combined exposure to multiple chemicals in December 2021.
A new tax on plastic packaging in the United Kingdom (UK) will become effective on April 1, 2022. The tax will apply to plastic packaging components that do not contain at least 30% recycled plastic and that are either manufactured in the UK or imported into the UK (although there are certain exemptions to the tax).
As part of a new policy initiative on biobased, biodegradable, and compostable plastics that is being prepared, the European Commission launched a public consultation to gain input from stakeholders.
The European Commission (EC) has issued a draft Regulation that would repeal and replace Regulation (EC) No 282/2008 on recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foods.
Over 230 processes have been evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to date. The draft Regulation, when adopted, will serve as the legal basis for the authorization decisions for recycling processes, which will be drawn up thereafter by the EC.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has proposed lowering the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of bisphenol A (BPA) from 4 micrograms per kilogram of body weight (µg/kg BW) per day to 0.04 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per day based on a re-evaluation of the substance. The re-evaluation was conducted by EFSA’s expert Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aide (CEP) and the conclusions were explained in a draft scientific opinion, which was published on December 15, 2021.
The German Bundesrat (the Federal Council of Germany) adopted the 21st Amendment to the Consumer Goods Ordinance (aka the Printing Inks Ordinance) during its 1012th plenary meeting on November 26, 2021. 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.