Japan to Implement Positive List System for Food-Contact Materials in 2020

The Japanese Government has announced that the country will transition to a positive list system for regulating food-contact materials on April 1, 2020. Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) initially announced the possibility of moving to a positive list system for regulating food-contact materials in July 2015. Two years later, in July 2017, MHLW issued a final report that listed the steps that should be taken to develop and implement a positive list system for regulating food-contact materials.  (See the PackagingLaw.com article, Japan Finalizes Report on Positive List System for Food-Contact Materials, for more details on the recommendations.)