France lifts ban on international trade of food contact materials with BPA content
23 September 2015
France lifts ban on international trade of food contact materials with BPA content
France's highest constitutional authority, Constitutional Council, has repealed parts of the law imposed in December 2012, which banned the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in food contact material.
Restrictions on manufacturing and export of food contact material with the chemical compound have been removed under the new ruling.
The ban on import and marketing of the products within the country is, however, still to be maintained.
These modified rules will allow the food contact material manufacturers to use BPA for international trade purposes only, and not for domestic use.
PlasticsEurope PC/BPA-group Jasmin Bird said: "Given that the French court has repealed the ban on exports from France, and yet maintained the ban within France, necessitates immediate action at European level to resolve this very arbitrary situation.
"The fact remains that leading independent scientific authorities worldwide such as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have concluded that BPA-based food contact materials pose no risk to consumers."
PlasticsEurope will continue to fight the legal battle until the ban is entirely annulled, it said.
EFSA has confirmed that BPA poses no health risk to consumers of any age group at current exposure levels which have been declared as safe.
