The Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

1.  These Regulations revoke the Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 as amended (“the 1998 Regulations”) and re-enact or re-enact with changes certain provisions contained in those Regulations. The principal Directives that continue to be implemented by these Regulations are listed in paragraph 5 below. These Regulations also provide for the execution and enforcement of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1895/2005 on the restriction of use of certain epoxy derivatives in materials and articles intended to come into contact with food (“Regulation 1895/2005”).

2.  The Regulations in Part 2 —

(a) prohibit specified activities in relation to any plastic material or article (as defined in regulation 2) which fails to meet the appropriate required standards set out in the Regulations (regulation 3);

(b) prohibit the use of monomers and additives in the manufacture of plastic materials and articles other than in accordance with specified conditions (regulation 4 and Schedule 1 in the case of monomers and regulation 5 and Schedule 2 in the case of additives);

(c) specify the required standards relating to the capability of a monomer or an additive to confer its constituents to food (regulation 6 for monomers and regulation 7 for additives);

(d) specify the required standard for products obtained by bacterial fermentation (regulation 8 and Schedule 3);

(e) specify the required standard relating to overall migration limits from plastic materials or articles to food (regulation 9);

(f) specify the required standards relating to the migration of primary aromatic amines from plastic materials or articles to food (regulation 10);

(g) specify the methods for determining the capability of a plastic material or article to transfer its constituents to food, and for detecting the presence of any such constituents in food (regulation 11 and Schedules 5 & 6);

(h) provide that prior to the retail stage plastic materials and articles must be accompanied by certain specified written information, including a declaration of legislative compliance (regulation 12);

(i) provide for the enforcement of Regulation 1895/2005, which contains Community provisions relating to the epoxy derivatives known as BADGE, BFDGE and NOGE (regulation 13).

3.  The Regulations in Part 3 —

(a) designate district councils as the enforcement authorities in their respective areas or districts (regulation 14);

(b) specify the offences that may be committed under these Regulations and set out the maximum penalties on conviction (regulation 15);

(c) provide for defences of a general nature, such as exercise of due diligence etc, to offences under regulation 15 (regulation 16);

(d) provide for transitional defences in relation to certain plastic materials or articles that have already been manufactured or put into circulation in advance of a change in the law that would otherwise have made their manufacture or circulation unlawful (regulation 17);

(e) specify the procedure to be followed when sending a sample for analysis (regulation 18);

(f) make provision for a reference sample to be analysed by the Laboratory for the Government Chemist (regulation 19);

4.  Part 4 of the Regulations contains provisions relating to the procedure to be followed and the time limit to be observed where a person wishes apply to the European Food Safety Authority for the authorisation of a new additive (regulation 20).

5.  The principal Directives implemented by the 1998 Regulations which these Regulations continue to implement are —

(a) Council Directive 82/711/EEC (OJ No. L297, 23,10,1982, p.26) laying down the basic rules necessary for testing migration of the constituents of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs, as amended by Commission Directives 93//8/EEC (OJ No. L90, 14.4.1993, p.22) and 97/48/EC (OJ No. L222, 12.8.1997, p.10);

(b) Council Directive 85/572/EEC laying down the list of simulants to be used for testing migration of constituents of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs (OJ No. L372, 31.12.1985, p.14);

(c) Commission Directive 2002/72/EC (OJ No. L220, 15.8.2002, p.18) relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs, as amended by Commission Directives 2004/1/EC (OJ No. L7, 13.1.2004, p.45) and 2004/19/EC (OJ No. L71, 10.3.2004, p.8).