6/27/2010

Nutsy EU consumer regulations: EU bans selling eggs by the dozen

Despite the regulator's claims, this is not consumer friendly regulation. If this is the way that consumers wanted to buy their eggs, this is the way grocery stores would sell them.

British shoppers are to be banned from buying eggs by the dozen under new regulations approved by the European Parliament.
For the first time, eggs and other products such as oranges and bread rolls will be sold by weight instead of by the number contained in a packet.
Until now, Britain has been exempt from EU regulations that forbid the selling of goods by number. But last week MEPs voted to end Britain’s deal despite objections from UK members.
The new rules will mean that instead of packaging telling shoppers a box contains six eggs, it will show the weight in grams of the eggs inside, for example 372g. . . .

‘It is important that information is provided in a way that is meaningful and beneficial to consumers. This issue is still being considered by EU member states and it will be some time before the regulation is finalised.’
The move could cost retailers millions of pounds because of changes they will have to make to packaging and labelling, as well as the extra burden of weighing each box of food before it is put on sale. . . .

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1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

"It is important that information is provided in a way that is meaningful and beneficial to consumers."
Yet another regulation created by people who are intimately familiar with regulation, but totally ignorant of the subject they've fixed their sights on regulating. They fail to grasp the simple fact that eggs are in fact sold not only by count, but also by weight, and have been for ages. In the US, one dozen Large eggs weight between roughly 684 and 768 grams, by law; in Europe, they would weight between 756 and 876 grams. How much additional information would the regulations really provide? Hardly any, unless one assumes that a couple of grams difference in the weight of an egg would ruin a recipe or throw someone's diet completely off.

6/27/2010 6:31 PM  

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