Brussels to take wrapping off packaging rules

The Competitiveness Council of 25 September 2006 reached political agreement to simplify legislation in the area of packaged goods. The agreement, if confirmed by the European Parliament, will mean free sizes for pre-packed products except for wines and spirits, for which the current existing fixed sizes have been streamlined. This would mean the replacement of 25 different national rules and two EU directives on nominal quantities by one single EU directive. This is another step to deliver on the Commission's work programme to simplify EU legislation under the Better Regulation initiative.

European Commission: Press release: IP/06/1253: Setting packaging free: Commission welcomes Council agreement to simplify EU legislation http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/1253&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: DG Enterprise and Industry: Industry Sectors: Metrology and Pre-packaging http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/prepack/index_en.htm

Council of the European Union: Press Release: PRES/06/240: Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry and Research) Council, 25 September 2006 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/intm/91068.pdf

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