News

On 26/01/2021, as part of its Farm to Fork strategy, the European Commission officially began work on an EU Code of Conduct for Responsible Business and Marketing Practices. The main purpose of the Code will be to support the achievement of Farm to Fork objectives at all levels and in all parts of the food supply chain. The Code will provide recommendations for the selection of ingredients and raw materials for food production, for transport options, for food packaging methods, and for marketing practices. The code is expected to be presented in the second quarter of 2021 but is in danger of being postponed until 2022.
More information is available here.

The EP Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI) adopted on 28/01/2021 its opinion on the circular economy. The opinion has yet to be approved by the plenary of the European Parliament in the coming months, after which it will become Parliament's opinion. COMENVI calls for all packaging to be reusable or recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030, and calls on the Commission to submit without delay a legislative proposal including waste reduction measures and targets and to strengthen the ambitious essential requirements of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive to reduce excessive use of packaging; urges the Commission to adopt rules for the general exclusion of intentionally added microplastics; stresses that disposable plastics should be replaced by reusable products (where alternatives are available) without compromising hygiene or food safety, and calls on the Commission to take legislative action in this regard; and calls on the Commission to translate the legislative proposal with binding targets for the reduction of food waste by 2030.
Approved opinion of the Committee available here.

On 28/01/2021, the European Commission published the results of an inspection action aimed at infringing EU consumer protection law. This is an annual initiative of the European Commission, this year the inspection focused on the so-called ‘greenwashing', which, according to the Commission, is the practice by which companies claim they are doing more for the environment than they actually are. The Commission has therefore focused on the environmental claims (Green Claims) that companies publish on the packaging of their products. The results of the inspection showed that in more than half of the cases, the trader did not provide consumers with sufficient information to assess the accuracy of the claims. The European Commission already states in its 2020 Farm to Fork strategy that it will focus on the use of green claims in food packaging in the coming years. Legislative proposals should be presented as early as the second quarter of 2021, and a discussion on the proposals and their adoption should take place in 2023-2024.
More information is available here.

On 28/01/2020, the Commission published a call for proposals for the promotion of agricultural products inside and outside the EU. The Commission has earmarked €182.9 million to support the promotion of agri-food products in 2021 (€200.9 million has been earmarked for 2020). Almost half of the total budget - €86 million - will be earmarked for the co-financing of promotion programs aimed at meeting the objectives of the EU Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy. Of this €86 million, €49 million will be earmarked to support organic farming, a further €18 million to support sustainable agriculture, and €19.1 million to promote fruit and vegetables in the context of a healthy and balanced diet.
More information is available here and here.

As part of the forthcoming Cancer Plan, the European Commission is considering banning the use of marketing promotion programs for red and processed meat. The draft version of the December 2020 Roadmap states that "the EU promotion policy for agricultural products will be reviewed with a view to the possible phasing out of the promotion of cancer-related foods, including red and processed meat". The draft document also envisages limited support for alcoholic beverages. Legislation on the taxation of alcoholic beverages should also be revised, and the Commission should also focus on limiting online advertising for alcohol. The European Commission should publish the Cancer Plan on 03/02/2021; a proposal for mandatory listing of ingredients and calorie content, together with the inclusion of health risks on alcoholic beverage packaging, will be presented by the end of 2023.
More information is available here.