CEOs of Europe’s leading food and beverage service and convenience packaging manufacturers met EU officials and representatives of national market surveillance organisations in Brussels this week to discuss action against packaging imports from China and elsewhere that don’t meet Europe’s stringent standards. This phenomenon may present health and safety risks for European consumers.
“We in Europe rightly expect our packaging to be manufactured to the highest levels of safety and quality and Pack2Go Europe companies are proud to deliver on that expectation,” says Tony Waters of Solo Europe, outgoing President of Pack2Go Europe. “The problem is double standards are being applied because national market surveillance organisations and customs services don’t adequately check imports from outside the EU.”
A survey of its members carried out by Pack2Go Europe this month shows that 87% of respondents reported experiencing loss in market share in the past that can be directly attributed to cheaper imports which may not be meeting the EU’s demanding standards. Indeed, 73% of respondents said they are currently suffering from such unfair competition. The biggest losers may be consumers, however.
“It’s all very well to keep piling regulatory demands onto packaging made in Europe but if we don’t demand the same of imports then consumers are not protected,” says Jan Schuermann of SwissPrimePack, the newly elected Pack2Go Europe boss. “It’s just too easy for third country producers to take shortcuts and get away with it. We want the control authorities to put this issue on their priority list, which is why we met the experts in Brussels this week.”
The problem is compounded by importers and distributors who, according to Pack2Go Europe members surveyed, may either realise that these imported goods are not meeting all the rules and turn a blind eye or don’t bother to check properly. On the other hand, nearly 60% of the manufacturers surveyed by Pack2Go Europe were of the opinion that service packaging users in Europe (such as snack bars, convenience food stores and catering companies) are not aware that the imported products they buy from distributors may not conform to EU requirements. Such users would no doubt be horrified if they found out that their consumers may be at risk.
“It’s time for service packaging users to start asking questions about the quality of imported products and demanding serious answers from importers and distributors,” said Schuermann. “Recent reports out of China show that locally manufactured packaging is not even meeting Chinese rules. It’s naive to think they are meeting ours when nobody ever checks.”
