France’s national ban on the manufacture and export of food contact materials that contain bisphenol A (BPA) has been lifted. However, France still does not allow such products to be sold within their borders.

The French Constitutional Court--the highest constitutional authority in France--has rescinded parts of the law that was adopted in December 2012. At that time, the use of BPA in food contact materials was banned. Now, manufacturers of food contact materials can use BPA for products to be exported, but those products cannot also be distributed or sold for domestic use in France.

The reason that production and export of these products has been given the green light again is because it does not align with rules already set in other EU member states. The court did admit that when the law was first enacted, they did not assess the compatibility of the French law with other existing laws throughout the EU. In France, the plastics industry is working to convince the court to repeal the entire BPA law so that products--which they believe to be completely safe--can be distributed both domestically and internationally.