Brussels, 25/09/2006 (Agence Europe) - After many discussions, the EU ministers in charge of competitiveness, meeting in Brussels on Monday, reached a unanimous political agreement to make considerable simplifications to Community legislation (directives 75/106/EEC and 80/232/EEC) and remove diverging national rules imposing obligatory packaging formats on pre-packaged foodstuffs. With a few exceptions, packaging formats for pre-packaged products will, in future, be free from any sizing requirements. The ministers were looking at the modified proposed directive presented by the Commission in April 2006 to get rid of all rules on the size of the packaging of these products throughout the EU, with the exception of packaging for wines and spirits, for which nominal obligatory quantities will continue to a apply, for reasons of public health.
"This is an excellent example of a simplification of legislation and a step forward for the internal market. Products will circulate more freely, industry will function better, and the consumer will have a wider choice", commented Council President Mauri Pekkarinen, speaking before the press.
The Commissioner for Industry, Günter Verheugen, for his part, stressed that the directive under examination was "not only a technical instrument, but had a political dimension also, as a testing ground for better legislation". He went on to explain: "the current legislation in this field has been the first to be earmarked for complete removal. Our proposal met with a great deal of opposition, but we have maintained that the consumer would not understand if we contented ourselves with rhetoric, and ended up blocking this project just as it is coming to fruition. This agreement illustrates the concept of the consumer in the 21st century. We are not protecting the consumer stricto sensu, but giving him or her more choice, more liberty. Operators will also have more choice and more freedom, and producers more flexibility".
To the great delight of the President and the Commissioner, the ministers agreed that in future, packaging formats for pre-packaged products will be free from all size requirements, with the exception of wines and spirits, which will enjoy permanent exemption. Time-limited derogations will also be provided for Member States hoping to hang onto their binding requirements for certain other products. In this way all Member States with specific legislation on the packaging of butter, pasta and coffee will be granted a transition period of three and a half years (added to the 18 months provided for the directive to be transposed into national law) to come into line with the new directive. For white sugar, the grace period for the Member States in question will be four and a half years. This result stems from efforts towards a general compromise, which triumphed over the blocking minority made up of France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus, which set great store by their traditions and wished to protect the categories of vulnerable consumers and to afford their industry sufficient time to adapt to this deregulation. However, a majority of delegations wanted to put an end to these rules, which were considered unhelpful, in the interest of the internal market and the free choice of the consumer.
In a joint declaration, the European Commission and the Council state that in line with the Treaty and the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice, the Member States making use of this transition period will not be able to refuse, ban or limit the sales of products legally on sale in other Member States for reasons to do with nominal packaging quantities. The declaration also explains that any Member State which currently has no national legislation applicable to obligatory nominal quantities for the packaging of products covered by the derogations cannot now bring these into being.
An initial compromise on the part of the Finnish Presidency, which was the subject of the ministerial deliberations, had planned for a derogation for white sugar and milk for a transition period of three years. At the opening of the session, the majority of delegations were able to get behind this proposal, but this first attempt at an agreement met with the opposition of five Member States wishing to extend the list of products eligible for this derogation and for the transition period for milk, butter, pasta and instant and ground coffee to be five years.