EU scraps packaging rules

In a move to cut EU red tape, European ministers have agreed to scrap set rules on the size of food packages in Europe.

The agreement – which must now be ratified by the European parliament – removes the size restrictions on 70 consumer products, from soft drinks to detergent.

Following lobbying by several member states, however, national rules on the package sizes for butter, dried pasta, coffee and white sugar will stay in place for another five years.

But the agreement is being hailed by the commission as a victory in its fight to cut red tape.

“This proposal is a small but necessary step to change the image of the EU as an over-regulating busybody,” EU industry commissioner Günther Verheugen said  after the decision.

“It sends a clear and positive signal that the EU is serious about cutting red tape.”

The current directives, which date back to 1970, were initially introduced in order to ensure that products could circulate freely within the EU’s internal market.

But they eventually came to be seen as unnecessarily complicated and restrictive.

Under the new rules, governments – even those that are maintaining their national rules on butter, pasta and so on – may not limit imports of those products that are packaged differently.

Meanwhile, Verheugen has said that the commission is on track to deliver on its target to cut red tape by the end of the year, in spite of a warning in July that it was falling behind.

The commission has vowed to push through 54 simplification measures by the end of the year as part of its “better regulation” campaign – but it had only tackled five by July.

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