Changes in consumer preferences and innovations in prepacking and retailing at Community and national levels have made it necessary to assess whether existing legislation is still appropriate.

An impact assessment, including a wide consultation of all interested stakeholders, has indicated that, in many sectors, free nominal quantities increase the freedom of producers to provide goods according to consumer tastes and enhance competition as regards quality and price on the internal market. In other sectors, however, it is more appropriate, in the interests of consumers and business, to retain mandatory nominal quantities for the time being.

Implementation of this Directive should be accompanied by more information for consumers and industry to enhance understanding of unit pricing.

Consequently, nominal quantities should generally not be subject to regulation at Community or national level and it should be possible to place prepacked goods on the market in any nominal quantity.

However, in certain sectors such deregulation could result in disproportionately high extra costs, especially for small and medium sized enterprises. For those sectors, therefore, existing Community legislation should be adapted in the light of experience, in particular to ensure that Community nominal quantities are fixed at least in the case of those products most sold to consumers.

Since the maintenance of mandatory nominal quantities should be regarded as a derogation, except in the wine and spirits sector, which has specific features, it should be periodically reassessed in the light of experience and in order to meet the needs of consumers and producers. For sectors in which mandatory nominal quantities might be maintained, when the Commission ascertains a disturbance of market conditions or a destabilisation of consumer behaviour, particularly that of the most vulnerable consumers, it should consider whether Member States should be authorised to maintain transitional periods and in particular to maintain the most-sold mandatory range sizes.

In Member States where prepacked bread forms a high proportion of regular consumption, there is a strong correlation between pack size and bread weight. As with other prepacked products, existing package sizes for prepacked bread traditionally in use will not be affected by this Directive and can continue to be used.

In order to promote transparency, all nominal quantities for prepacked products should be set out in a single legislative act, and consequently Directives 75/106/EEC and 80/232/EEC should be repealed.

In order to increase consumer protection, in particular for vulnerable consumers such as the disabled and the elderly, proper attention should be paid to ensuring that weight and volume indications on consumer product labelling are more easily legible and visible on the prepackage under normal conditions of presentation.

Since the objectives of this Directive cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason of the repeal of Community ranges and the establishment of uniform Community nominal quantities where needed, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives,