In the fast-paced print and packaging industries, staying compliant with regulations is a significant challenge every business must address. From food and pharmaceutical packaging to toys and cosmetics, global regulatory standards continually evolve, making it imperative for converters and brand owners to stay ahead of the game to meet safety and functionality requirements at their companies.
The global emphasis on circular economies and sustainability necessitates that regulatory foresight must play a key role in ensuring compliance, fostering eco-friendly practices, and building consumer trust. Governments worldwide continue to tighten regulations on materials, recyclability, and chemical safety, making compliance a cornerstone of maintaining market access and brand reputation.
When navigating the intricate world of regulatory compliance, having knowledgeable partners is essential. At ACTEGA, a manufacturer of print and packaging solutions, products are designed with compliance in mind, addressing current industry challenges while preparing for future regulatory shifts.
Importance of Regulatory Expertise
While new legislation emerges at an accelerating pace, compliance requirements vary drastically between geographies. Businesses in North America must comply with local standards while also meeting international requirements to remain competitive.
This complexity is heightened when manufacturers export packaging to stringent regulatory regions such as Europe, which often introduces new standards significantly earlier than North America or other regions do.
Regulatory and analytical teams can collaborate with their customers to solve challenges specific to their goals, such as producing packaging free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or packaging free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Whether it’s addressing low migration, de-inking, or recycling requirements, companies with this expertise can collaborate directly with their customers to meet these needs while ensuring compliance with rigorous standards.
Individualized Processes
Collaboration fosters strong partnerships. Customer-centric processes can streamline complex challenges into manageable, tailored solutions. This begins with open communication—whether through email or on-site visits—allowing your company to understand each customer’s unique product and regulatory requirements.
From there, in-house analytical teams take the lead, conducting rigorous testing such as migration studies to ensure compliance with global regulatory standards and performance expectations.
For example, by combining regulatory expertise with analytical services, ACTEGA empowers North American converters to innovate and stay compliant in a global marketplace. Once solutions are developed, products—ranging from inks to coatings and adhesives—are manufactured and delivered with a strict focus on quality, safety, and reliable timelines.
The collaborative approach frequently opens customers’ eyes to better, more sustainable ways of operating that they might not have considered before. A consultancy-first model delivers immense value for their long-term success.
While new legislation emerges at an accelerating pace, compliance requirements vary drastically between geographies. Businesses in North America must comply with local standards while also meeting international requirements to remain competitive.
Road Ahead
In North America, there is a focus on the future of flexible packaging and label solutions. Key areas of development include expanding product portfolios free of PVC, as well as accelerating efforts to provide PFAS-free alternatives to meet growing regulatory and environmental demands.
Bisphenol A will also remain a significant priority. And solutions free of trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA) will continue to be a key initiative, especially in regions like California, where TMPTA’s classification as a potential mutagenic carcinogen drives regulatory scrutiny.
A commitment to the circular economy involves advancing solutions such as de-inking and de-bondable primers, which are designed to minimize the impact on recycling processes.
Innovation will enable customers to align with sustainability goals and shifting regulatory landscapes.
Mell Bishop is ACTEGA’s vice president of flexible packaging North America and global market manager of labels. Bernd Elsler is global market manager of aluminum foil.
NOTE TO READERS: We welcome submissions to this sustainability column. Please send your ideas to FlexPackVOICEcontent@theYGSgroup.com. Generally, articles can be up to 1,000 words, should be on issues important to the industry, and should not be self-promotional. Submitted photos will be considered for publication, as well.