Belgian EU easy-open update
Belgium's Packaging Institute (the IBE-BVI) held a seminar in February updating delegates on recent (and future) developments around an EU openability standard for packaging.
The proposed CEN standard was distrib-uted for consultation last year but was voted down by experts in some individual Member States, notably France, Germany, Italy and the UK. Objections centred on the proposed testing procedure, using panels of 70-89 year- old consumers.
Among the other much-debated methods of gauging openability are sensory analytical testing (using trained panels) and mechanical testing.
Says CEO of IBE-BVI Maxence Wittebolle: "There is no intention of replacing panel testing with mechanical tests, but they constitute an additional tool helping industry to verify the functionality of easy-opening for packs—or slightly modified packs—that have already been panel-tested."
Rather than discard all the work that has gone into the draft standard, it is likely to be proposed as a Technical Specification (TS). A TS does not have the official status of an EN standard, and has only a three-year lifespan, renewable by a further three years.
Other speakers at the seminar included Stig Hakansson, former convenor of the CEN TC 261 working group, Lindsey Etchell of UK consumer group Ricability and Greta Seresia of the IBE-BVI.
More :: www.ibebvi.be
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