Optics exempt from 'made in' legislation

Optics has been exempted from European legislation to introduce compulsory 'made in' declaration of origin labelling in all EU member states.

The legislation would have meant that the words 'made in' together with the country of origin would have had to be written on all optical products in the local language of sales or in English. According to the Federation of Manufacturing Opticians (FMO), the European Federation of Precision Mechanical and Optical Industries (Eurom 1) achieved the exemption through lobbying their MEPs.

Malcolm Polley, FMO chief executive, explained: 'We gained this small success for the optical sector by supporting partner organisations in Eurom 1 and we were able to lobby and influence the vote in the European parliament to prevent a small item of unnecessary bureaucracy going through.'