On 5 July 2016, Germany has notified a draft of its ordinance on printing inks to the European Commission by amending Germany's Consumer Goods.

It establishes a positive list of substances allowed for use in the manufacture of printing inks for food contact materials (FCMs), as well as their specific migration limits (SMLs).

To be included in the list, substances must have undergone a health assessment, or have been proven not to migrate to foodstuffs from the printing inks.

Carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic (CMR) substances are banned from use, unless a safety assessment "justifies their use or the derivation of limit values for transfer into foodstuffs". Nanomaterials can be included with "explicit provision".

Currently the list counts 535 entries. According to the European Printing Inks Association (EuPIA), the number of substances used in printing inks amounts to almost 6,000.

The German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture has acknowledged the positive list is incomplete. It says it will be updated continuously until the ordinance enters into force.

C&K Testing advises related businesses should keep updated with the latest regulations and deal with due care.


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German printing inks in FCMs (draft)

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