Revision of EU Rules on FCMs
A revision of the EU legislation on FCMs was announced in May 2020 as part of the European Commission's Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system. In it, the Commission commits to revise the FCM legislation to improve food safety and public health (in particular in reducing the use of hazardous chemicals), support the use of innovative and sustainable packaging solutions using environmentally-friendly, re-usable and recyclable materials, and contribute to food waste reduction.
In addition, under the sustainable products initiative announced in the CEAP, it will work on a legislative initiative on re-use in food services to substitute single-use food packaging and cutlery by re-usable products. The key themes and pillars of the revision of EU FCM rules can be found in the table below.
The revision will be based on the findings of the Evaluation of current FCM legislation but will also reflect commitments given in other key strategies, including the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) and the Chemicals Strategy for sustainability towards a toxic-free environment.
The starting point for the revision is a roadmap (inception impact assessment) which the Commission published on its Have Your Say website. The roadmap was open for feedback from all stakeholders for six weeks and was supported by a webinar held on Wednesday 20th January 2021. The roadmap and a summary of the feedback can be found in the table below.
A 14 week public consultation was held between 5 October 2022 and 11 January 2023; a summary of the results can be found in the table below. Further consultation activities and study work will be carried out in order to develop a full impact assessment for the revision and eventual legislative proposal. In general, the same stakeholders as for the evaluation will be targeted to support the Commission in its work. Details of commissioned study work can be found below.
If you have any questions or comments on the revision of FCM legislation, you can email SANTE-FCM-REVISION
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (SANTE-FCM-REVISION[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu).
The following documents support the ongoing activities of the revision of the FCM rules:
| Description | Date | Output documents |
|---|---|---|
| Roadmap (inception impact assessment): Revision of EU rules on food contact materials | 18 December 2020 | Roadmap |
| Webinar on the evaluation and revision of the EU rules on Food Contact Materials | 20 January 2021 | Presentation |
| Recording of the event | ||
| Summary of feedback from stakeholders on the roadmap (inception impact assessment) | 25 January 2022 | Report |
| Copy of public consultation questionnaires (EN documentation tool only) | 5 October 2022 | Consumer questionnaire Stakeholder questionnaire |
| Summary report of the public consultation | 15 June 2023 | Summary report |
| Key themes and pillars of the revision of EU FCM rules | 5 May 2023 | View document |
The following studies support the ongoing activities of the revision of EU FCM rules:
| Title/Description | Indicative timing | Output documents |
|---|---|---|
Study on citizen engagement The purpose of the study is to understand citizens’ level of knowledge and understanding of FCMs and potential risks they represent; citizens’ preferences when it comes to trade-offs between safety-hygiene-sustainability; citizens’ behaviours and usage of FCMs and; citizens information needs, preferences, and proposals for what information they would like to receive and how, including alternative proposals to the current labelling scheme. | Published October 2023 | |
Study concerning information exchange, compliance and enforcement The study will focus on developing different options to support an IT infrastructure required for information exchange and then assess the impacts of these options. The study will also develop options and assess the impacts of those options, for verifying compliance, controls and the role of the different actors. | Finished | |
Study on sustainability in the context of food contact materials The study will define the understanding of sustainability when applied to FCMs, identify gaps and opportunities for increasing sustainable development, identify the sustainable products already on the market or under development, analyse the future market trends, identify policy measures that have the potential to increase the sustainability of FCM and characterise policy measures. | Ongoing | FCM sustainability study description |
Initiative on ceramic and vitreous FCMs
As part of the overall work revising rules on FCMs, the Commission is specifically assessing lowering migration limits for lead, cadmium and introducing limits for aluminium, arsenic, barium, cobalt, chromium and nickel from ceramic and vitreous food contact materials
Ceramic and vitreous food contact materials (FCMs) include tableware and kitchenware such as plates, cups, glasses, bowls or oven trays. Vitreous materials include glass, crystal and enamelled metals. Metals such as lead and cadmium are used for technical (e.g. give shine, durability) or decorative purposes (e.g. colours). Therefore, there is a risk these metals transfer into food from ceramic and vitreous FCMs.
In this context, EU legislation on FCM provides that materials in contact with food "shall neither adversely affect consumer health nor influence the quality of the food", and "shall be manufactured under good manufacturing practices".
The legislation also empowers the Commission to establish limits on the migration of chemicals from FCMs into food. Legislation on ceramic food contact materials – Directive 84/500/EEC – sets such limits for lead and cadmium and ensures the safety of ceramic table and kitchenware.
However, recent scientific evidence and enforcement data indicate that current exposure from those metals may be of concern and that those metals are sometimes released in significant amounts from both ceramic and vitreous FCMs.
Based on current health data including opinions published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the measure would significantly lower the limits of lead, cadmium and introduce limits for aluminium, arsenic, barium, cobalt, chromium and nickel. The scope would be expanded to include not only ceramic but also vitreous FCMs – glass, crystal and enamelled metals.
Considering this would affect EU producers, in particular smaller artisans, hobbyists and producers of cultural and traditional value, the Commission is also looking at ways to mitigate the impact of updating the limits on those producers.
Three types of "mitigating provisions" are being assessed:
- Tailored transition plans to address the situation where a manufacturer would have significant costs, for example to replace their ovens, or need additional time and resources to change their materials and production methods in order to comply with the new limits. The legislation would set a transition period after which all articles placed on the market will need to comply. However, this may not be sufficient for some producers.
To prevent operators from having to stop their production and close their businesses, such producers would be able to agree with their national competent authorities tailored transition plans during which they can continue sell their articles while they make the necessary changes to comply. They would also need to label that their articles are under "transition" and inform customers on the adequate use and care needed.
- Quality control through the supply chain to control the quality of raw materials supplied to manufacturers and reduce their need to test final articles. Supplies will be required to know and communicate the composition of their supplies (labelling, declaration of compliance). Those selling to hobbyists and artisan must also provide adequate instructions on how to use those raw materials, the labels to put on final articles, and an explanation of legal requirements to produce and sell articles for food contact.
- Conditional derogation for artisanal and traditional products. This will enable artisans and producers of articles of traditional or cultural value to continue produce and place on the market articles that exceed by a certain maximum amount the new limits but under certain conditions: 1) mandatory labelling and adequate use and care instructions for end-users and 2) for traditional producers, mandatory application to the national competent authority.
Indeed, it may be more difficult for artisans to ensure the constant quality of their production and for some traditional and cultural articles to comply with the new limits because the value of their products depends directly on the use of those metals and/or production methods.
On 29 May 2019, the Commission published its Inception Impact Assessment, laying out the problem the initiative aims to address. It included a 4-week public consultation, providing a first opportunity for stakeholders to give feedback.
As part of the impact assessment work, the Commission will carefully assess the proposed policy options and form the evidence base for a possible decision on future policy.
To support this process, the Commission will continue its close dialogue with all relevant stakeholder groups, which includes:
- The ceramics and glass industries including individual businesses, professional associations, artisans and hobbyists, and producers of articles of cultural and traditional value.
- Citizens and consumers,
- NGOs and other public-interest organisations,
- National competent authorities and EU bodies.
The study and targeted consultations aim to gather data enabling the Commission to flesh out the policy measure, make a first assessment of expected impacts and develop the mitigating provisions under consideration.
The public consultation will provide further opportunity for the Commission to present what the measure will look like and how the mitigating provisions would work, and get relevant feedback from all stakeholders.
Call for experts
Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) unit E2 is looking for individual experts to support policy developments on food contact materials (FCM) at EU level area, in particular on the revision of the EU FCM legislation.