Food Contact Materials – 2018/2022

The General objective of BTSF is to ensure a high level of consumer protection throughout the EU internal market and to increase levels of trade in safe food across the globe by the implementation of efficient, objective and adequate official controls. This objective is achieved by training the staff of the competent authorities, offering a better network and ongoing dialogue with partners from both within, and outside, the European Union, thus contributing to a high level of expertise and competence.

The Specific objective of the present BTSF programme on Food Contact Materials is to spread knowledge and best practices in official control of FCMs and ensure better enforcement of EU rules thanks to exchanges of best practices between participants, specifically on:

• Control of the whole food contact materials chain and the compliance of the FCM manufacturing and importing establishments with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004;
• Examination of written materials and in particular the specifications regarding declaration of compliance for food contact materials.
• Assessment of the implementation of good manufacturing practice by FBOs, and decision taking

Travel

For each supported participant, the project will provide a return flight ticket – in economy class or a return train ticket in first class using the most direct route.

For participants from non-EU countries, the project will also reimburse visa costs upon provision of the original receipts by the participants for the incurred expenses.

Upon arrival, transfer from the airport or station to the hotel will be arranged by the organiser, as well as the transfer from the training site to the airport on the last day of the training.

The project also provides health and repatriation insurance for all the trainees.

Accommodation

The project will provide full-board accommodation for subsided trainees for the period of the training:

• on the day prior to the training: room charge (single occupancy) and dinner (depending on the arrival time);
• from the 1st to the 3th day of the training: full board accommodation including breakfast, 2 coffee breaks, lunch, dinner and room charge (single occupancy);
• on the 4th day of the training: breakfast, 1 coffee break and lunch for participant departing before 19:00, dinner and room charge (single occupancy) as required for the participants departing later or the day after the training.

Training courses

The following costs related to the implementation of the training courses will be covered by the project:

• Access to fully equipped meeting rooms;
• Transportation to the field visits
• Costs of transport to the closest airport or train station and visa costs if any.

The project will also provide the following material:

• Stationary (notepad, pen, notepad-holder);
• A folder including hand-outs of all the lectures;
• USB key containing all the training material in electronic version;
• A group photo.

The dateline for the submission of the application will be 6 weeks before the event, which is the optimal period to ensure the availability of adequate flights. The selection of participants will depends on :

• The completeness of the information on his registration form;
• The conformity of the trainee”™s profile to the selection criteria;
• The correctness of the information (e.g.: spelling of countries, country codes for phone numbers etc.).

The targeted public are official inspectors from European competent authorities which deals with food industries and packaging industries.

The Project Manager informs the NCPs of the selection criteria for participants as early as possible in the project course, and is careful to give priority to the participants corresponding to the following criteria:

• Relevant technical background: participants should preferably have the necessary basic knowledge in the relevant legislation and controls of food contact materials;
• Participants shall have successfully participated in the BTSF e-learning module on food contact materials.
• Relevancy to daily work: participants should, in priority, be staff of the competent authorities and be involved in the control of food contact materials as control inspector (75%) involved in control activities in food establishments and food contact materials premises or in central authorities (25%) as a policy officer. However also officials from Competent Authorities involved in planning and control activities will be invited. Participants will be grouped based on their level of knowledge and experience.
• Sufficient language skills in English: in order to ensure the transfer of knowledge and opportunities to exchange views, participants should master the language of the training session for which they applied;
• Ability to share their experience: priority will be given to participants whose position will allow them to share the outputs of the training sessions with colleagues.

AETS will work on this project in cooperation with AINIA (Spain), and AESA (Belgium).

National Contact Points in charge of identification of participants: https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/btsf_national-contact-points.pdf

Monika KUUSK: monika.kuusk@aets-consultants.com; +33 (0)5 59 72 43 23