Many printers and packagers have been in the dark about the regulations even though they will have a far-reaching impact on brand owners, end users and supermarkets – and that, say experts, will likely change the face of packaging and packaging printing across Europe. For many, it will involve upgrading standard business procedures to cope with the new directives.

The relevant documentation comes under Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, which will become applicable from December 13, 2014, replacing the current requirements for the labeling of foodstuffs set out in Directive 2000/13/EC and the nutrition labeling requirements of Directive 90/496/EEC.

What will this mean for printers?

Run lengths are likely to become a fraction of what they were and set-up costs for traditional flexo or litho printing are likely to “go through the roof” say experts. Possible result? Digital will look much more attractive and will become a “must have” investment for thousands of printers across Europe – yet many won’t want to, or can’t afford, to invest in complete new systems.

John Corrall, a Managing Director at Cambridgeshire, UK-based Industrial Inkjet Ltd (IIJ) that develops tailored industrial inkjet systems for customers worldwide – including labels and general packaging – is an acknowledged world expert on this topic. IIJ is also the official sales and technical support centre for Konica Minolta industrial inkjet in the U.K.

“Five years ago we were engaged by one of the world’s foremost chocolate manufacturers that was concerned by the impact of these new regulations,” he recalled. “It knew it needed to increase font sizes on its packaging. This meant it was no longer possible to squeeze text for more than one language onto each package. One language per package meant more variations – shorter runs of different artwork. It meant that run lengths would halve or quarter, so they realized the economic solution would be new in-house digital production systems.

Even though this global brand purchased trial equipment, it didn’t really progress beyond that, which I take to mean that when the new regulations come into effect in December, the problem will fall on the shoulders of the current external print suppliers. My feeling is that food companies regard it as somebody else’s problem, so printers and packagers and others in the supply chain are going to be in for a nasty shock. The regulations apply to the food producer, but, to me, it seems as if the right people don’t know enough yet about the regulations and their widespread impact. Do they care? Have they thought about the impact on the poor packaging suppliers?” Corrall added.

New opportunities – not just new problems

John Bambery, Chairman of the BPIF’s (British Printing Industries Federation) Labels Group, pointed out: “Countless artwork has to be changed to meet the deadline in December. Morrison’s is one supermarket chain that went on record more than a year ago to confirm that it will need to change 10,000 details on product labels alone. My take is that the only way of doing it cost effectively is digitally, which creates a massive business opportunity for those with digital equipment.

While many printers will be supplied artwork by their customers, some will be asked to produce designs, and their designers need to be aware of what’s acceptable and what’s not. I’ve raised questions relating to the liability printers will face, and it’s been confirmed that the producer of the product has the legal responsibility for ensuring that the information on the label or packaging is correct. As I understand it, the UK has a voluntary code that complies with the EC rules. So if they don’t comply, they’re not actually breaking the regulations as they haven’t yet been enshrined into UK law,” he concluded.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Though we seldom run stories from overseas unless they have a direct or indirect impact on printers and other graphic arts professionals here in Canada and the U.S., we believe that these regulations MIGHT eventually change the landscape of the packaging industry here – and packaging printing in particular – in the future as government regulators, industry organizations, commercial printers and other stakeholders monitor the effects of these new rules carefully. We’ll keep you posted.