Assessing alleged differences in the quality of household and personal care products sold in the single market : results of an EU wide comparison

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) collaborated with EU Member States' competent authorities to investigate the extent of compositional differentiation of seemingly identical household and personal care products sold in the Single Market. Front-of-pack images and ingredient data of 58 branded household and 79 personal care products were collected from 20 EU Member States following a harmonised methodology. The products were grouped into classes with 'identical' or 'different' ingredients and 'identical', 'similar' or 'different' front-of-pack appearances. The results indicated that 8 % of products had an identical front-of-pack but differed in declared ingredients, while 25 % of products with differences in the listed ingredients showed also certain variations in their front-of-pack appearance. Brand owners cited reasons such as reformulation and asynchronous product launches for variations in composition and front-of-pack. No clear trend of product differentiation was observed across geographical regions of participating Member States. It is important to note that the survey results do not reflect the situation for the entire range of products offered in the Single Market, and the compositional differences found in the survey do not necessarily constitute a difference in product quality. The generic framework for selecting, sampling, and testing food products can be adapted for household and personal care products, and information technology can provide tools to support the collection and analysis of product content data. The report also concludes that it is possible for Member States, industry representatives and NGOs to monitor composition differences across the Single Market by using ICT solutions. In case that such an observatory is indeed created, its purpose, remit, and governance structure must be defined, including a funding mechanism.