Food contact
EU 1935/2004 as the framework, with EU 10/2011 for plastics; Germany additionally names LFGB §30 and §31, which is the test most European buyers write into a specification.
Supplying Europe & UK
LFGB, REACH and a packaging regime that is getting stricter every year.
Europe asks for a specific food-contact test by name, a substances statement per article, and increasingly a packaging file that accounts for what the carton is made of and who pays to collect it. The United Kingdom runs a separate retained regime, so a document written for the EU is not automatically the one a UK buyer needs.
Market Requirements
What Europe & UK Asks Of The Product
These are the market's rules rather than our claims. The two that decide your document set are the material and the destination; tell us both and we confirm which of these apply before anything is commissioned.
United Kingdom
The retained GB food-contact regime. It is not the same document as the EU one and is often asked for separately, so a programme selling both sides needs both.
Restricted substances
REACH SVHC screening reported per article with the concentration found, and a declaration covering the coating and the decoration ink as well as the body.
Packaging and EPR
Extended producer responsibility applies to packaging in most member states, and the packaging and packaging-waste regulation tightens recyclability and reuse requirements over the coming years. It is the buyer's obligation, but it decides what board, ink and lamination a retail box can use.
Retail schemes
German and French retail groups usually add their own packaging and labelling requirements, including language panels and a materials accounting file.
Transit
ISTA-style transit protocols, and for some programmes a humidity cycle the US market does not ask for.
Starting Points
Ranges That Fit This Market
Shipping
How It Gets There
Planning facts for this destination. The production window is the same everywhere on this site; what changes is the water and the clearance.
| Ports | Ningbo or Shanghai, loaded FOB; CIF to Rotterdam, Hamburg or Felixstowe quoted on request; DDP available on larger programmes. |
|---|---|
| Transit | Roughly 4–6 weeks on the water, plus the production window. |
| Cartons | The same master cartons as every other destination — the carton does not change with the market, but the retail packaging inside it usually does. |
| Documents | The customs file travels with the goods: commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin and the origin statement that the buyer's broker needs to apply the tariff. |
Questions From This Market
What Buyers Here Ask Us
The questions below are the ones that come up most from Europe & UK rather than the general ones, which live on the FAQ.
Do we need LFGB or EU 1935/2004?
Usually both, and they are not alternatives. EU 1935/2004 is the legal framework a declaration is written against; LFGB §30 and §31 is the German test method a buyer names in a specification because it is specific and reproducible.
What is the sensorial test in LFGB §31?
It asks whether the article changes the taste or smell of what it holds — a filled body is held at a defined temperature and a panel compares it against a blank. It is the test a coating with residual solvent fails.
Does the packaging regulation affect my carton?
It can. The obligation sits with the producer who puts the packaged product on the market, which is normally the buyer, but what it demands — recyclability, a materials file, sometimes a fee — decides the board and the lamination. We confirm the dieline against those requirements rather than after the fact.
Can you produce language panels for several markets?
Yes. Multi-language retail packaging is built from your artwork, and the panel layout is confirmed against the carton dimensions before printing so the text stays legible at shelf size.
How is the UK handled if it is a separate regime?
We map the GB documents separately from the EU set. If a programme ships to both, tell us at the quotation stage and both sets are costed as one line rather than being commissioned twice.
Also Relevant
Other Regions
Enquiry
Send The Destination And The Product
That is enough for us to name the standards, the label and the packing rule that apply, and to price the configuration against them.