European requirements for food contact materials in Ukraine

We have a draft law No. 4568 #AtTheCommitteeConsideration, which propose to guarantee at the legislative level the safety of materials and objects that come into direct or indirect contact with food products in the process of their production, circulation and use. The authors of the draft law note that currently there is no law in Ukraine that would comprehensively regulate this issue. This is partly regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On Basic Principles and Requirements for Food Safety and Quality”. However, it contains only one article, which deals with the state registration of materials in contact with food, and does not take into account a significant number of requirements contained in the European legislation.

What does the draft law No. 4568 offer?

Ukraine needs to put its legislation in compliance with the EU law, according to the Association Agreement with the European Union. This also applies to measures on chemicals that migrate from packaging materials to foodstuffs. The draft law proposes to implement into national legislation the provisions of four EU regulations at once, namely: on materials and products in contact with food, on recycled plastics and products intended to come into contact with food, on good manufacturing practice of materials and products intended for contact with food and on active and “intelligent”materials, which come into contact with food.

The draft law No. 4568, in particular, provides for:
-    application of the EU legislation terminology in Ukrainian legislation;
-    the powers of executive bodies in the field of production, circulation and use of materials and objects in contact with food;
-    general and special requirements for materials and objects in contact with food;
-    requirements for recycled plastic materials and items in contact with food;
-    the procedure for state registration of objects used in the production of materials and objects in contact with food;
-    features of the state registration of processing of plastic;
-    provisions on amending, suspension and revoking of the decision on state registration of objects;
-    requirements for labeling, declaration of conformity and requirements for ensuring the traceability of materials and objects in contact with food;
-    provisions on good manufacturing practice (GMP) in the production of materials and articles in contact with food and provisions on state control and responsibility of market operators.

The draft law doesn’t apply to items and materials supplied as antiques, protective materials or shells, in particular, materials covering cheese crust, meat semi-finished products or fruits, as these are part of the food product and may be consumed with it; stationary equipment for centralized or decentralized water supply, as well as non-food products, organizational and legal principles of circulation of which are defined by the Law of Ukraine “On General Safety of Non-Food Products”.