Directive 2008/39 - Amendment of Directive 2002/72/EC relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 63/6

Commission Directive 2002/72/EC (2) is a specific Directive within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 and harmonises the rules on the authorisation of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food.

Directive 2002/72/EC establishes lists of authorised substances for the manufacture of these materials and articles, in particular additives and monomers, restrictions on their use, as well as rules on labelling and on the information to be given to consumers or food business operators for the correct use of these materials and articles.

The current list of additives contained in Directive 2002/72/EC is an incomplete list inasmuch as it does not contain all substances currently accepted in one or more Member States.

According to Article 4(1) of Directive 2002/72/EC as it stands, the list of additives is considered to be an incomplete list until the Commission decides, in accordance with Article 4a, that it becomes a positive Community list of authorised additives.

For those additives which are currently permitted in the Member States, the time limit for the submission of data for their safety evaluation by the European Food Safety Authority (hereinafter the Authority) with a view to their inclusion in the Community list expired on 31 December 2006. Therefore the date when the Community list of additives becomes a positive list can now be set. Taking into account the time the Authority will need to evaluate all valid applications submitted on time this date should be January 2010.

It is also appropriate to clarify the role of the provisional list referred to in Article 4a (4) and (5) of Directive 2002/72/EC as it stands and how it will be updated. The provisional list contains those additives for which the necessary data were supplied on time and in accordance with the Authority’s requirements, but where no decision on their inclusion in the positive list has yet been taken.

This provisional list provides information to the public on the additives that are under evaluation in view of their possible inclusion in the Community list of additives. As it is impossible to know if the evaluations for all the additives included in the provisional list will be completed by the date when the list of additives becomes a positive list, it should be possible to continue to use those additives, in accordance with national law, until their evaluation is completed and a decision is taken on their inclusion in the positive list of additives.

When an additive included in the provisional list is inserted in the Community list of additives or when it is decided not to include it in the Community list, that additive should be removed from the provisional list of additives.

If, during the examination of the data on an additive included in the provisional list, the Authority calls for supplementary information, that additive should be maintained in the provisional list until a decision is taken in relation to it, provided that the information is submitted within the time limits specified by the...