If you look in the link below at the 'Main findings' and open the 'full document', you will see an extensive analysis of package sizes.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/prepack/index.htm Interesting facts are: The US mandatory spirit size of 750 ml may not be sold in the EU. The EU mandatory spirit size of 700 ml may not be sold in the US. The US mandatory wine size of 187 ml may not be sold in Canada. The Canadian mandatory wine sizes of 200 ml and 2000 ml may not be sold in the US. A European Court case called 'Cassis de Dijon' found that products in a package size that is legal in one EU member state must be legal for import in any other EU member state. This has effectively combined all 15 (soon to be 27) national regulations into one complex composite set. So the EU is looking for a new approach to simplify things. There is a WTO angle on this too. Initially, it looked like the favourite proposal was to come up with a more extensive but less complicated set of permitted sizes. It now appears that the EU is seriously considering widespread deregulation of package sizes and leaving the choice to the producers. Public contributions to the debate are being accepted until the end of this month. -- Terry Simpson Human Factors Consultant [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.connected-systems.com Phone: +44 7850 511794
