Spray GmbH (‘Spray’) is a German company that manufactures deodorants and hygiene products. During the COVID crisis, it has expanded its scope of manufacturing and now produces sanitizing gel. It has sold the gel to several member states of the EU. Spray wishes to expand its market by selling to Sweden but quickly finds that it has difficulties in doing so.
The first difficulty Spray encounters is that Sweden limits the quantity of sanitizing gels that may be imported. Moreover, Sweden’s laws stipulate that all gels sold in its country must have a safety cap. Spray doesn’t use safety caps on its products but the standard caps that it uses on its deodorants. Spray is quite annoyed by Sweden’s requirement of a safety cap as other Member States do not impose this requirement.
Spray also finds out that when its goods enter Sweden, Spray will have to pay a 20 Swedish Kronas fee (the equivalent of approximately 2 Euros) per bottle of gel. Swedish authorities have informed Spray that this charge is for recycling costs.
Spray then finds out that because its products use stick-on-labels to display relevant manufacturing information, its products will be taxed at a higher rate than those products that print manufacturing information directly onto the bottle.
Spray is aware of a recommendation by the European Union that stick-on-labels should be dispensed with to protect the environment from unnecessary rubbish and recycling costs. In addition to the recommendation there is also a recent directive called, ‘Directive 2020/158’ (fictitious) in relation to the use of paper and the environment which explicitly states that all member states should achieve the objective of safeguarding the environment by minimising the use of paper within 2 years.
However, Spray conducts its own investigation and finds out that a number of Sweden’s manufacturers of hygiene products do not use a stick-on-label.
The final issue which has irritated Spray is that there are restrictions on television advertising of hygiene products which come in the form of a bottle. This is because of a recent incident in Sweden where a child accidentally drank liquid soap that was in a bottle because the child thought it was fruit juice.
Advise Spray as to the impact of the relevant EU law and the options available to sell its goods in Sweden.
