L 243/8
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
20.9.2022
(27)
The decontamination of recycled plastic should be subject to inspection and control by competent authorities.
Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law (8) also covers official control on food contact materials and, therefore, includes decontamination installations.
However, while that Regulation provides for general rules for official controls, it does not set out any specific procedures to control decontamination installations.
To ensure uniform application of official controls of decontamination installations independent of where they are located, it is therefore appropriate to define appropriate control techniques, as well as rules that define when recycled plastic should be considered to be not in compliance with this Regulation.
(28)
To ensure that recycled plastic and recycled plastic materials and articles are used appropriately and in a traceable manner by converters and food business operators, a declaration of compliance should be provided to accompany batches of recycled plastic, in order to establish the identity of the recycler, the recycled origin of the plastic, and to provide instructions to the converters and final users regarding its use.
To ensure that that document can be understood in a uniform manner by anyone who receives it, operators should be required to use a pre-defined template.
(29)
Recycled plastic materials and articles are presently placed on the market subject to national rules.
Therefore, provisions should be laid down to ensure that the transition to this Regulation is smooth and does not disturb the existing recycled plastic materials and articles market.
In particular, it should be possible for a limited time to apply for authorisation of existing recycling processes subject to individual authorisation in accordance with this Regulation, and to continue placing on the market recycled plastic, and recycled plastic materials and articles, produced through those recycling processes until the authorisation procedure is finalised.
Applications submitted in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 282/2008 concerning such recycling processes should be considered as applications submitted under this Regulation.
Applications submitted in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 282/2008 concerning recycling processes not subject to individual authorisation in accordance with this Regulation should be terminated as there is no basis for authorisation of the concerned processes under this Regulation.
(30)
Recyclers applying technologies in their present recycling operations that are not listed as suitable recycling technologies should be allowed sufficient time to consider whether they want to develop that technology further in order to allow the listing of the technology as suitable or otherwise to terminate their use of those recycling operations for the manufacture of plastic materials and articles.
Therefore, the placing on the market of recycled plastic, and recycled plastic materials and articles, produced through recycling processes and installations based on those technologies and in accordance with current existing national rules should continue to be allowed for a limited time.
(31)
In case operators decide to develop the technology further in order to allow the listing of the technology as suitable, this Regulation requires the notification of the technology and the designation of a developer.
The notification procedure however would require at the time of the notification extensive reasoning on the safety of those recycled plastic materials and articles, and the publication of a report based thereon.
While operators already using these technologies should have information on the safety of the recycled plastic materials and articles manufactured therewith, the requirements that this Regulation sets out for such reports are extensive.
Since it may take significant time to obtain the required additional information, it is therefore appropriate to allow those developers to provide this information in the months after the notification.
(8) Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on official controls and other official activities performed to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products, amending Regulations (EC) No 999/2001, (EC) No 396/2005, (EC) No 1069/2009, (EC) No 1107/2009, (EU) No 1151/2012, (EU) No 652/2014, (EU) 2016/429 and (EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Regulations (EC) No 1/2005 and (EC) No 1099/2009 and Council Directives 98/58/EC, 1999/74/EC, 2007/43/EC, 2008/119/EC and 2008/120/EC, and repealing Regulations (EC) No 854/2004 and (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directives 89/608/EEC, 89/662/EEC, 90/425/EEC, 91/496/EEC, 96/23/EC, 96/93/EC and 97/78/EC and Council Decision 92/438/EEC (OJ L 95, 7.4.2017, p. 1).