With the motion "Labeling deceptive packaging: Protecting consumers and the environment," Saarland wants to put an end to deceptive packaging. Saarland's Minister of Consumer Protection, Petra Berg, aims to curb the trends of shrinkflation and skimpflation with the initiative "Labeling deceptive packaging." On November 22, she will speak about this in the plenary session of the Federal Council: "Consumer protection organizations repeatedly identify deception in the area of packaging. Foremost among them is the Hamburg Consumer Advice Center, which even awards the 'Deceptive Packaging of the Year' annually. Nevertheless, deceptive packaging continues to increase. With our initiative, we want to curb this trend."
The initiative focuses on two phenomena: maintaining the familiar packaging size with less content at the same or higher price, which experts refer to as "shrinkflation." And the so-called "skimpflation," where more expensive and higher-quality ingredients are replaced by inferior and thus cheaper ones.
There are already several laws and EU directives that include regulations to combat deceptive packaging, but these are not concrete enough to effectively protect consumers in practice.
In 2021, a study commissioned by the Federation of German Consumer Organisations found that 1.4 million waste bins could be saved each year in Germany if manufacturers avoided oversized air packaging.
The Saarland initiative aims to introduce an appropriate labeling of changes in content or quality for products in supermarkets and large retail stores. This labeling is intended to be applied for a period of six months and will come into effect as soon as the product with one of the above-mentioned quantity or quality changes is available on the market.
Furthermore, Saarland proposes the establishment of a national reporting office with an informational function for consumers. It also calls for a uniform EU regulation with a manufacturer labeling requirement directly on the products, as well as a legal determination of a product group-specific minimum filling level or a maximum free space limit.
The French supermarket chain Carrefour can serve as a role model. In autumn 2023, it began independently pointing out misleading packaging. Since July 1st, a corresponding law has been in effect in France, requiring supermarkets to label deceptive packaging.
