WORKING DOCUMENT - Contact alimentaire

4. Conditions of useLarge containers are continuously emptied and refilled (so-called repeat use). Thismeans that migration into foodstuffs will be gradually reduced. The total service life ofa heavy duty coating system may be more than 20 years. Typical migration would beexpected to become very low during the service life.The surface to volume ratio has a positive influence by reducing the migration intofoodstuffs. The surface to volume ratio of a typical 10,000 litre container is 0.42dm²/kg, compared with the convention of 6 dm²/kg used in the EU for food packagingmaterials. This means that the EU convention of assuming a factor of 6 betweenmigration expressed as mg/dm² packaging material and that expressed as mg/kg(ppm) food is 14-fold greater than the worst case (i.e. smallest volume) for containersprotected with heavy duty coatings.Of course, many containers (e.g. ship tanks, land storage tanks) are far larger thanthe 10,000 litre minimum used to define heavy duty coatings.Examples:Container: 10,000 litresDimensions 10 by 10 by 100 dmSurface area: 4200 dm²Container 10,000 litresRoad container 3 metres long and 1.03 metre radiusSurface area: 2600 dm²These typical conditions of use have resulted in an exemption of heavy duty coatingsfrom the Epoxy Directive 2002/16/EC and its amendments, including Directive2004/13/EC and Regulation (EC) No /1895/2005.E. COATED FLEXIBLE ALUMINIUM PACKAGING1. DefinitionCoated Flexible Aluminium Packaging consists of products where coatings areapplied to aluminium or multilayer substrates where one layer is aluminium.Aluminium used for this purpose is typically of thicknesses up to 200 µm.Applications would include: individual wrappers, lidding, diaphragms, caps, blisterpacks composite cans and food containers.2. ProductionCoatings for flexible aluminium packaging are produced in batch processes usinggood manufacturing practices.22Europäische Vereinigung der Lack-, Druckfarben- und KünstlerfarbenindustrieEuropean Council of Paint, Printing Inks and Artists' Colours IndustryAvenue E. Van Nieuwenhuyse 4 - BE-1160 BrusselsTel:+32 (0)2 676 7480 - Fax: + 32 (0)2 676 7490 - E-mail: secretariat@cepe.org -Internet: http://www.cepe.org/