Legal regulation of materials and articles, intended for contact with food in the legislation of Ukraine and the EU

Abstract

The aim of the article is to assess Ukraine’s progress in the approximation of its administrative legislation on food contact materials and articles with the relevant EU law. The study has been carried out using the method of system analysis and synthesis, comparative legal method as well as historical legal method. It has been established that most of the legal requirements for food packaging materials in Ukraine have been brought in line with those of the EU. Similar to the EU Ukraine can now use such administrative regulatory instruments as the adoption of special requirements for certain groups of food packaging materials as well as the state registration (authorization) of substances that can be used in the manufacture of food packaging materials. At the same time, the conclusion is made that there are discrepancies between Ukraine’s legislation and the EU law regarding the recycling of plastic. These discrepancies can be explained by the fact that the EU has recently adopted new legislation, which is more comprehensive and addresses the recycling of plastics at the level of industrial technology, recycling processes and recycling equipment, whereas Ukraine’s national legislation is mainly focused on plastic recycling processes.