EU

On 13 November 2019, the Swedish Chemicals Agency (SCA) published the results of an investigation into hazardous substances contained in common leather products. The investigation covered a total of 70 products over five categories: gloves, watchstraps, bracelets, clogs and mobile phone covers. Eight products (11%) were found to contain prohibited substances. More

The European Union is increasingly facing calls to introduce the so-called Nutri-Score label for food packaging. The Nutri-Score label was first introduced in France and sets out a five-letter colour-coded overview of whether the product in question contains too much sugar, salt or unsaturated fats; red indicates a high content of such unhealthy substance while green indicates low levels. More

On 20 November 2019, the Official Journal published Commission Directive 2019/1929, amending a specific section of the EU’s framework law, Directive 2009/48/EC on the safety of toys. The newly published Directive adopts specific limit values as regards formaldehyde used in a number of different materials in toys. More

On 8 November 2019, the European Commission announced that the EU's VAT system is set to be further equipped to tackle fraud in the e-commerce sector, following new rules agreed by Member States on that day. The political agreement will, it is announced, for the first time make relevant data on online purchases available to anti-fraud authorities in their fight against VAT fraud in the e-commerce sector, estimated at around €5 billion a year in the EU. More