Clarification of Annex II of Directive 76/211/EEC on prepackaged products

Question for written answer  E-001736/2022
to the Commission
Rule 138
Tom Vandenkendelaere (PPE)

Council Directive 76/211/EEC contains EU provisions on the making-up by weight or by volume of certain prepackaged products. However, a number of those directly concerned are perplexed by ambiguities in some of the provisions and are accordingly seeking further clarification thereof. In order to avoid any misunderstandings when it comes to implementing the directive, the Commission is asked to clarify a number of issues.

Point 2.1.1 of Annex II on requirements for checking batches of prepackages states that the batch shall be made up of all the prepackages of the same type and the same production run which are to be inspected. As far as the food sector is concerned, the following question arises:

Can two different food products placed in packages of the same size on the same line be regarded as a single batch?

Point 2.1.2 of Annex II states that, when prepackages are checked at the end of the packing line, the number in each batch shall be equal to the maximum hourly output of the packing line, without any restriction as to batch size. In other cases the batch size shall be limited to 10 000.

Does this mean that a check must be carried out every hour of production? If so, how is this applied to plants with an hourly output of less than 10 000?