National or European regulation? Fate of the German Printing Ink Ordinance still uncertain

摘要

What does the future hold for Germany's planned ordinance of printing inks for food packaging? Over the past months there was little to report in terms of new developments, but there are growing calls for a uniform regulation at EU level rather than an exclusively national settlement. The German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) in Berlin, which is in charge of finalising the ordinance, is also backing a transnational settlement. The German Minister for Food and Agriculture, Christian Schmidt, had already advised the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, at the beginning of the year on the "urgent necessity of reaching a uniform EU settlement for printing inks." Many business players also favour a regulation of printing inks at an EU level rather than a German solo effort. For instance the German Federation for Food Law and Food Science (BLL), Berlin, states that from the industry perspective the notification of the draft of a purely German printing ordinance is the wrong measure to promote an EU-wide solution.This would "produce too great, disproportionate bureaucratic burdens for domestic businesses as well as upheaval in the domestic market," says the BLL. The Packaging Ink Joint Industry Task Force (PIJITF), which represents federations from the entire supply chain for food packaging, also supports an EU-wide settlement over a German one. The PIJITF wrotealettertominister Schmidt in February, asking himfor his support fora European regulation, as demanded by the task force.