The rule

Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 sets one general safety requirement that
applies to every material and article intended to come into contact with
food across the European Union: it must not transfer its constituents to
food in quantities that could endanger human health, bring about an
unacceptable change in the composition of the food, or cause a
deterioration in the food’s taste or odour. This is the baseline
obligation. It applies regardless of what the material is made from, and
it sits above and alongside any more specific rule that might apply to a
particular material category.

The scope

The regulation covers all materials and articles intended for food
contact, but it does not treat every material category identically
underneath that general rule. For a small number of material categories,
the European Union has adopted specific harmonised measures that set out
more detailed requirements, including, for certain categories, a
mandatory format for a supporting document. Plastics are the most
developed example of this. Plant fibre tableware, the category areca
leaf products fall into, does not currently sit under one of those
harmonised specific measures. That does not remove it from the
regulation. The general safety requirement in the paragraph above still
applies to it in full. It means there is no EU-wide harmonised
documentation format specifically mandated for this material category
the way there is for plastics.

What a
declaration of compliance is, and who issues it

For material categories covered by a specific EU measure, the
regulation requires a written declaration of compliance to accompany the
material at each stage of the supply chain up to, but not including,
sale to the final consumer. That declaration is issued by the economic
operator, typically the manufacturer or the business placing the
material on the market at each stage, and it states that the material
meets the applicable rules. Because plant fibre tableware does not
currently sit under one of those specific harmonised measures, there is
no EU-mandated declaration format that applies to it in the same binding
way. The general safety obligation still applies, and a manufacturer or
importer can still choose to provide supporting documentation, such as
test reports, as evidence toward that obligation, but this is not the
same as a legally mandated harmonised declaration of compliance under a
specific EU measure.

How
national measures sit on top of the EU framework

Where the European Union has not adopted a specific harmonised
measure for a material category, individual member states retain the
ability to apply their own national provisions for that category,
provided those provisions do not conflict with the general framework
regulation. This means the practical documentation or testing
expectation for a plant fibre tableware product can vary from one EU
member state to another, even though the underlying general safety
requirement is the same across all of them. A buyer in one EU market
should not assume that a documentation expectation confirmed in another
EU market applies identically at home.

What the importer is
responsible for

Placing a food contact material on the EU market carries a
responsibility that sits with the business doing the placing, most
directly the importer bringing goods into the EU for the first time.
That responsibility includes satisfying themselves, and being able to
demonstrate if asked by their own national authority, that the material
meets the general safety requirement, and that any national measure
applicable in their specific member state has been addressed. Requesting
a manufacturer’s available test reports and certifications, and
confirming with the importer’s own national food contact material
authority or a customs and regulatory adviser what documentation their
specific market expects, is the practical way an importer discharges
that responsibility. The regulation places this obligation on the party
placing the goods on the market, not on the article a manufacturer’s
export documentation happens to contain.

The caveat

This article explains the framework. It does not state that
Foliware’s product carries a formal EU declaration of compliance issued
under a specific harmonised measure, because plant fibre tableware does
not currently sit under one, and no such document would be accurate to
issue for this material category on that legal basis. What Foliware
supplies is its own laboratory test reports and management system
certifications, described elsewhere on this site, which an importer can
use as part of their own documentation file. Whether that documentation
satisfies a specific EU member state’s expectation for this material
category is a question the importer needs to confirm with their own
national authority or regulatory adviser before their first order, not a
determination this article or Foliware can make on the importer’s
behalf.

Markets outside this
framework

This article addresses the European Union framework specifically. The
United Kingdom, since leaving the European Union, applies its own food
contact materials regulations rather than Regulation (EC) 1935/2004
directly, and a UK bound shipment should be checked against that
separate UK framework. Norway’s position relative to the EU framework is
not addressed in this article, since no single verified source available
to Foliware confirms it, and a Norway bound shipment should be checked
against Norwegian national requirements directly. The UAE, GCC and
Australia sit outside the EU framework entirely and are not addressed
here.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• the certifications and test reports
  Foliware provides
• how
  documentation is handled across Foliware’s approved export
  markets
• the file
  checklist this documentation sits inside

References