polyamide and melamine plastic kitchenware in march 2011 hong kong china reported that on 22 march 2011 the european union had enacted commission regulation no. 284 2011 outlining a more stringent set of testing controls for the imports of polyamide and melamine plastic kitchenware originating in or consigned from china and hong kong china. hong kong china was concerned that while the regulation would take effect on 1 july it had not yet been notified. hong kong china was also concerned that the restrictions were discriminatory and that despite bilateral discussions hong kong chinas concerns had not yet been addressed. china supported the views expressed by hong kong china and noted that the eu restrictions were discriminatory as they only applied to china and hong kong china. china requested that the european union provide scientific justification for the measures and postpone the effective date of the regulation. the european union recalled that in accordance with the committees working procedures the european union should have been informed at least ten days in advance of the meeting of the intention to raise such a specific trade concern. as this had not been the case the european union would not reply in detail to the concern raised in the formal meeting. the representative of the european union stated however that the matter had already been discussed bilaterally with china in the margins of the meeting that same morning and that another bilateral meeting with hong kong china was being set u to take place before the next committee meeting. in june 2011 china indicated that the european union had not provided an adequate transition period for manufacturers to adapt to eu regulation 284 2011. although the eu framework legislation 669 2009 had been notified it was a very general regulation that members could not use to predict the application of specific measures to particular products. china requested that the european union notify eu regulation 284 2011 and provide a reasonable comment period. the european union was requested to provide all notifications and alerts concerning plastic kitchenware received by the rapid alert system not only those originating in or consigned from china and hong kong china and ensure that its measures were not arbitrary or unjustifiably discriminatory. furthermore the european union should ensure the plastic food contact material product standards in 2002 72 ec and the 15 mg kg formaldehyde limit in regulation 284 2011 were based on international standards or else provide data risk analysis and testing reports of the substances found in plastic kitchenware in order to prove the measures were based on sufficient scientific evidence. hong kong china remained unconvinced that the measure introduced by the european union was non-discriminatory given that the regulation imposed a more stringent import requirement on consignments from hong kong china vis-a-vis those from other countries with a similar export or re-export trade. it did not appear that the eu regulation referred to any international standard and hong kong china urged the european union to notify the regulation and to conduct an early review of the measure with the purpose of repealing any discriminatory measure against the relevant products originating in or consigned from hong kong china. the european union stated the regulation had its legal basis in regulation 882 2004 on official food and feed controls and in directive 2002 72 on provisions relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. these regulations were notified in 2002 and 2003 respectively. mandatory border controls for plastic kitchenware imported from china and hong kong china had been imposed as of 1 july 2011 due to the high number of alerts received regarding the non-compliance of these products. the eu food veterinary office fvo inspection missions to china and hong kong china also reported there were