No C 25/6 Official Journal of the European Communities 28. 1. 85 
vate organizations without forfeiting unemployment 
benefit. The Committee feels that the practical de­
tails would have to be set out more clearly. There must be no question of such activities, which are 
commendable in theory, competing with normal em­
ployment. 
Done at Brussels, 21 November 1984. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Directive laying down the list of simulants to be 
used for testing migration of constituents of plastic materials and articles intended to 
come into contact with foodstuffs (l) 
(85/C 25/03) 
On 18 April 1984 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 100 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on 
the abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for 
the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 31 October 1984, in the 
light of the report by Mr Broicher. 
At its 221st plenary session (meeting of 21 November 1984) the Economic and Social 
Committee adopted the following opinion by unanimous vote: 
1. The ESC welcomes the fact that the alignment 
of Member States' laws on the use of plastic packag­
ing for foodstuffs is to take a further step forward. 
However, the proposal deals with only one very lim­
ited aspect of the problem. 
Directive 82/711/EEC has already laid down the 
permitted simulants, but all the present proposal 
does is to specify which simulants are to be used in 
place of which foodstuffs. 
The crucial step — namely determining which plas­
tics may be used and specifying under what condi­
tions these plastics and the additives required for 
their processing may enter into contact with food­
stuffs — still has to be taken. Nationally-compiled 
permitted lists exist already, but this above all is an 
area where there should be Community harmoniza­
tion. In the interest of consumer protection and the re­
moval of barriers to trade this final step should be 
taken as soon as possible and a deadline laid down 
for incorporating these provisions in Member 
States' legislation. 
2. The following points should be made in this res­
pect: 
2.1. In the interest of consumer protection provi­
sion should be made for a procedure involving per­
mitted lists which is clear and as simple as possible 
and is sufficient guarantee that the plastics do not 
have a harmful effect on health or impair the food's 
taste. The Committee also considers preventive ac­
tion to be an absolute necessity, i. e. the composition 
of the packaging material should be tested prior to 
its use. This is the only way in which it can be 
ensured that foodstuffs packaged in unsuitable 
material do not have to be destroyed. 
(1) OJ No C 102, 14. 4.1984, p. 4. 2.2. There are two possible methods for compiling 
permitted lists: 
28. 1. 85 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 25/7 
2.2.1. At present the national lists in use in some 
Member States specify which plastics may be used. 
Such a list is indispensable at Community level. 
In such a case the purpose of the migration test 
would be to determine whether the packaging mater­
ial or container can be used within the meaning of 
the basic Directive and, if so, for which foodstuffs. 
2.2.2. Alternatively the permitted list could lay 
down the maximum permissible amounts of the pro­
cessing agents that may be used in conjunction with 
the plastics. Migration tests would have to be carried 
out in advance to determine these amounts. 
2.2.3. In the case of the method described in 2.2.1 it 
would be possible to use any combination of sub­
stances to manufacture the food-packaging material 
or containers. However, a migration test would have 
to be carried out on each material prior to its use. 
With the second method the composition would be 
laid down in advance and no fresh migration tests 
would be necessary. Of course, a combination of 
both methods would be feasible. 
3. Specific comments 
3.1. It is stated in point 4 of the proposal's Annex 
that different simulants should be used depending 
Done at Brussels, 21 November 1984. on whether the pH value is higher than 5 or 5 or less. 
The Committee thinks that this value should be 4,5, 
since this is where the division is normally made and 
4,5 is the value used throughout industry in the 
Community. The introduction of another value in 
the Directive serves no purpose. 
3.2. In the list of simulants appended to the propo­
sal the X(a) entry in column A under 01.02 should 
be deleted. The test with simulant C (15 % ethanol in 
a aqueous solution) does away with the need for a 
test with water. The same applies to 04.02 C III and 
04.05 C III. 
3.3. In the list of simulants the X(a) entry in col­
umns A and B under 05.02 should be deleted, since 
the plastic is only in contact with the fat phase and 
not with the aqueous phase. In addition, 'fats' 
should be deleted in the description, since pure fats 
come under 05.01. 
3.4. The footnote to 06.01, 06.03 and 06.04 should 
also refer to 04.03 B and C and both the cocoa 
powder and cocoa paste in 07.02. However, there is 
still no testing method for determining the presence 
of fat on a food's surface. Such a method will have 
to be proposed by the Commission as an adjunct to 
this Directive. 
3.5. 'Dried or' should be deleted under 08.01 since 
the testing of dried milk packages with simulants A 
and B is meaningless. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Gerd MUHR