OOMMITTEES
Printing Inks
Printing Inks Council
Chaired by Peter Tresadern, INX International
The Printing Inks Council (PIC) met twice in 2018. The PIC
reviews the big picture in terms of regulatory threats, discusses
potential media statements and reviewing the industry statistics.
The Council supported two UV LED events, which were
coordinated by new Non-Executive Director at the BCF,
Peter Baird, and BCF’s marketing team, headed by Tania Morrill.
The events took place in October 2018, in Scotland and the
Midlands, and were well attended by the supply chain.
The Council also continued important relationships with key
industry associations, with Charles Jarrold, CEO of the British
Printing Industry Federation presenting at the May meeting,
along with Two Sides director, Martyn Eustace, who presented
an update on their excellent work to present a balanced view
on print versus digital. Strategic topics for the meetings included
an update on Brexit, TiO 2 , potential future legislation affecting
printing inks and the new BCF apprenticeships service.
The December meeting used a new format, with a joint session
with the Printing Ink Technical Committee, followed by separate
sessions for each committee. The joint session included an
in-depth discussion on the Exclusion Policy and current issues,
which led to a BCF letter being sent to EuPIA’s secretariat,
expressing members’ concerns and asking for a proper review of
the Exclusion Policy at the EuPIA Technical Committee meetings
and EuPIA Council in 2019.
Printing Inks Technical Committee
Chaired by Andrew Clifton, Domino Printing Sciences
This Committee provides technical support to the Printing
Inks Council and the BCF’s printing inks members, acting as the
technical link between the UK and the European printing ink
trade association EuPIA, on food contact and non-food contact
printing ink issues.
The European Commission’s work on a Union Measure for
printed Food Contact Materials came to a halt in mid-2018,
when they took the decision to wait for the outcome of the
overall review of all European food contact legislation (including
the Framework Regulation and Plastics Directive) and whether
what is already in place is fit-for purpose. This is expected to
take several years, so work on the Union Measure is unlikely to
resume before 2020. In the meantime, the European printing
inks industry remains concerned that the German authorities
may decide to resume their work on a national Ink Ordinance.
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Much of the committee meeting discussion during the past
year was centred around the challenges that members have
faced with regard to the reclassification of key raw materials
(especially UV curing photoinitiators such as Omni-Rad 369).
These have triggered substitution activity under the Exclusion
Policy, as well as the need for risk assessments to comply with
exemption requirements. This has placed additional considerable
strain on the supply chain and raw material and finished
product availability, as it coincided with some key activity in the
manufacturing sector in China, with some suppliers closing down
for periods due to environmental concerns. Several revisions
to EuPIA Exclusion Policy documents were issued, along with a
Q&A document for members to use with customers and end
users.
As with all the technical committees, regular updates on the
proposed (Category 2 carcinogen) classification under CLP for
TiO 2 were provided, with particular reference to the impact
to printing inks (occupational exposure limit reduction, ink
waste and possible re-evaluation by the European Food Safety
Authority as a food additive and / or permission for use in food
packaging).
A session on plastic packaging and recycling was held in July
2018, to try and identify the key issues that are now coming to
the fore with the general concerns over plastic waste, recycling
and single use plastics. This pre-empted the setting up of a
new EuPIA Task Force on Plastics Recycling, which the BCF are
providing secretarial support for.
Several BCF printing ink members also attended the two EuPIA
workshops on risk assessment relating to NIAS substances,
learning about the recommended approach that should be taken
to ensure safe use and control of potential contaminants and
other Non-intentionally added substances that could migrate
out of food packaging inks. Further workshops on this topic are
under consideration, to share best practice and good product
stewardship guidance.
A further initiative relating to food packaging inks was the
creation of a BCF statement on the use of the phrase ‘low
migration’ to promote such inks. The intention is for BCF
members to move away from such vague wording and instead
use a phrase promoting compliance with and the use of the
EuPIA Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines (issued in 2017).
BCF ANNUAL HANDBOOK 2019/20