Applicant information could be exposed to rival firms

The new European Framework Regulation on food contact materials, which is expected to be published late this summer, could seriously undermine commercial competitiveness. Speaking at EPN's Food Contact Plastics conference in Brussels this week, packaging law specialist Jean-Philippe Montfort said that the European Commission's decision to make some applicant information available for public examination “was a mistake”.

Montfort, a partner in international law firm Keller and Heckman, said that making the applicant's name, chemical name, analytical method and certain information relevant to the safety assessment – which could include the chemical application – meant that an applicant's commercial know-how could be exposed to its rivals.

“This is not consistent with EU chemicals legislation where the name of the applicant is considered confidential”, he said. “That means it is not so easy to see why people are using materials.” Dr Luigi Rossi, principal administrator in the EC's health and consumer protection directorate general, said the shared data principle was not expected to cause problems in practice.

However, he told the conference that its operation would be under scrutiny. “We will see how it works,” he said.