Pre-packed products – how to fill and label the package

SUMMARY OF:

Directive 76/211/EEC on the making-up by weight or by volume of certain pre-packaged products

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE DIRECTIVE?

It introduces uniform legislation across the European Union (EU) Member States setting out the conditions for the filling of ℮-marked pre-packages*. It aims to ensure that the quantity displayed on the container of a pre-packed product* is correct and that it is appropriately labelled.

KEY POINTS

The directive has been amended over the years, and this summary reflects its content as it currently stands.

Scope

The directive relates to pre-packages containing products sold individually at a constant weight or volume that has been chosen in advance by the packer and is not less than 5 grams or 5 millilitres and not more than 10 kilograms or 10 litres.

The ℮-mark

The directive sets out the conditions for the pre-packed product to carry an ℮-mark. The ℮-mark, placed next to the nominal quantity*, confirms compliance with EU rules on the indication of the volume or weight and on the measuring methods that sellers of pre-packed products must use. Although the ℮-mark is not mandatory, having it affixed to a product means that the product can be sold in all Member States without there being any need to check compliance with individual national requirements.
To ensure that the quantity displayed is correct, ℮-marked packages must meet the following requirements.
- The average quantity of product in packages coming from the same batch must be equal to or greater than the quantity mentioned on the package.
- The nominal quantity refers only to the product. It does not include the packaging or any materials used to protect, handle or preserve the product, or that serve as an aid while using it.
- Only a very limited proportion of pre-packaged products from the same batch may have a smaller amount of product than indicated on the package, known as the ‘tolerable negative error’. The directive’s Annex 1, point 2.4 sets out this point in further detail.
By placing the ℮-mark on the product, the packer or the importer certifies that the pre-packages meet the requirements of this directive in terms of quality and metrological controls (more details in the directive’s Annex I, Section 5 and in Annex II).
The letter ‘e’ must be placed in the same field of vision as the indication of the nominal weight or nominal volume and should be a minimum of 3 millimetres high.

Indication of weight or volume

The labelling must indicate the volume in the case of liquid products and the weight in the case of other products.
The label of the pre-packed product must also bear the weight and volume indications used in trade practice, or comply with the national regulations of the destination country if such indications vary between Member States.
Member States may neither prohibit nor restrict the placing on the market of packaging that complies with the directive’s requirements on indicating the volume or mass and the metrological methods used, and whether it bears the ℮-mark.

Delegated acts

Amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1243 empowers the European Commission to adopt delegated acts in order to adapt Directive 76/211/EEC to technical progress.

FROM WHEN DO THE RULES APPLY?

Directive 76/211/EEC had to be transposed into national by 22 July 1977.
In Belgium and Ireland had to be transposed into national law by 31 December 1979.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

Pre-packaging (European Commission)
℮-mark (European Commission).

KEY TERMS

Pre-package. The combination of a product and the individual package in which it is pre-packed.

Pre-packed product. A product is pre-packed when it is placed in a package of whatever nature without the purchaser being present and when the quantity of product contained in the package has a predetermined value and cannot be altered without the package either being opened or undergoing a perceptible modification.

Nominal quantity. The nominal quantity (nominal weight or nominal volume) of the contents of a prepackage is the weight or volume indicated on the prepackage, i.e. the quantity of product which the prepackage is deemed to contain.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Council Directive 76/211/EEC of 20 January 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making-up by weight or by volume of certain prepackaged products (OJ L 46, 21.2.1976, pp. 1–11).

Successive amendments to Directive 76/211/EEC have been incorporated in the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.