1.This Regulation is a specific measure within the meaning of Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004.
2.This Regulation establishes specific requirements for the manufacture and marketing of plastic materials and articles:
(a)intended to come into contact with food; or
(b)already in contact with food; or
(c)which can reasonably be expected to come into contact with food.
1.This Regulation shall apply to materials and articles which are placed on the F1... market and fall under the following categories:
(a)materials and articles and parts thereof consisting exclusively of plastics;
(b)plastic multi-layer materials and articles held together by adhesives or by other means;
(c)materials and articles referred to in points a) or b) that are printed and/or covered by a coating;
(d)plastic layers or plastic coatings, forming gaskets in caps and closures, that together with those caps and closures compose a set of two or more layers of different types of materials;
(e)plastic layers in multi-material multi-layer materials and articles.
2.This Regulation shall not apply to the following materials and articles which are placed on the F1... market and are intended to be covered by other specific measures:
(a)ion exchange resins;
(b)rubber;
(c)silicones.
3.This Regulation shall be without prejudice to the F2... provisions applicable to printing inks, adhesives or coatings.
Textual Amendments
F1Word in Art. 2 omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/704), regs. 1, 66(b); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)
F2Words in Art. 2(3) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/704), regs. 1, 66(a); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)
For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:
‘plastic materials and articles’ means:
materials and articles referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 2(1); and
plastic layers referred to in Article 2(1)(d) and (e);
‘plastic’ means polymer to which additives or other substances may have been added, which is capable of functioning as a main structural component of final materials and articles;
‘polymer’ means any macromolecular substance obtained by:
a polymerisation process such as polyaddition or polycondensation, or by any other similar process of monomers and other starting substances; or
chemical modification of natural or synthetic macromolecules; or
microbial fermentation;
‘plastic multi-layer’ means a material or article composed of two or more layers of plastic;
‘multi-material multi-layer’ means a material or article composed of two or more layers of different types of materials, at least one of them a plastic layer;
‘monomer or other starting substance’ means:
a substance undergoing any type of polymerisation process to manufacture polymers; or
a natural or synthetic macromolecular substance used in the manufacture of modified macromolecules; or
a substance used to modify existing natural or synthetic macromolecules;
‘additive’ means a substance which is intentionally added to plastics to achieve a physical or chemical effect during processing of the plastic or in the final material or article; it is intended to be present in the final material or article;
‘polymer production aid’ means any substance used to provide a suitable medium for polymer or plastic manufacturing; it may be present but is neither intended to be present in the final materials or articles nor has a physical or chemical effect in the final material or article;
‘non-intentionally added substance’ means an impurity in the substances used or a reaction intermediate formed during the production process or a decomposition or reaction product;
‘aid to polymerisation’ means a substance which initiates polymerisation and/or controls the formation of the macromolecular structure;
‘overall migration limit’ (OML) means the maximum permitted amount of non-volatile substances released from a material or article into food simulants;
‘food simulant’ means a test medium imitating food; in its behaviour the food simulant mimics migration from food contact materials;
‘specific migration limit’ (SML) means the maximum permitted amount of a given substance released from a material or article into food or food simulants;
‘total specific migration limit’ (SML(T)) means the maximum permitted sum of particular substances released in food or food simulants expressed as total of moiety of the substances indicated;
‘functional barrier’ means a barrier consisting of one or more layers of any type of material which ensures that the final material or article complies with Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 and with the provisions of this Regulation;
[F3‘ non-fatty food ’ means a food for which in migration testing only food simulants other than food simulants D1 or D2 are laid down in Table 2 of Annex III to this Regulation;]
‘restriction’ means limitation of use of a substance or migration limit or limit of content of the substance in the material or article;
[F3‘ specification ’ means composition of a substance, purity criteria for a substance, physico-chemical characteristics of a substance, details concerning the manufacturing process of a substance or further information concerning the expression of migration limits;]
[F4‘ hot-fill ’ means the filling of any article with a food with a temperature not exceeding 100 °C at the moment of filling, after which the food cools down to 50 °C or below within 60 minutes, or to 30 °C or below within 150 minutes.]
Textual Amendments
Plastic materials and articles may only be placed on the market if they:
comply with the relevant requirements set out in Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004 under intended and foreseeable use; and
comply with the labelling requirements set out in Article 15 of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004; and
comply with the traceability requirements set out in Article 17 of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004; and
are manufactured according to good manufacturing practice as set out in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006(1); and
comply with the compositional and declaration requirements set out in Chapters II, III and IV of this Regulation.