Partial Repeal Of The Law Prohibiting Bisphenol A

On 17 September 2015, the French Constitutional Council ("Conseil Constitutionnel") issued a decision partly repealing law no. 2010-729, dated 30 June 2010, as amended by law no. 2012-1442, dated 24 December 2012, prohibiting the use of bisphenol A in food packages, thereby promoting the principle of free enterprise to the detriment of the precautionary principle.

It must be reminded that, originally, French law prohibited the use of bisphenol A in feeding bottles and then extended this prohibition to "the manufacturing, importation, exportation and placing on the market, whether in return for payment or free of charge of [...] any packaging, container or utensil containing bisphenol A and designed to be in contact with foodstuffs", which was implemented on 1 January 2015. Such a prohibition went far beyond European directives and most European member states did not have such limitations on the use of bisphenol A.