France

The anti-waste law for a circular economy, issued in February 2020, strengthens existing French legislation on food waste reduction. It includes new objectives, tools and obligations, such as:

• the objective to halve food waste by 2025 in the retail and collective catering sectors, and by 2030 in other sectors;
• mandatory action plans including diagnosis related to food waste prevention for food industries (compulsory in collective catering since 2018);
• the extension to wholesalers (in addition to the retail, collective catering and food industries) of the prohibition to destroy edible foodstuffs, and the obligation to establish a donation agreement with an approved food aid association;
• reinforced penalties in case of intentional destruction of unsold, but still edible food;
• mandatory procedures to monitor and control the quality of the donated food;
• the introduction of a national "anti-food waste" label that can be granted to any legal entity contributing to the national objectives.

Related links:

• French act of law: LOI n° 2020-105 du 10 février 2020 relative à la lutte contre le gaspillage et à l'économie circulaire
• Anti-waste law for a circular economy: main measures introduced [content in FR]
• The anti-waste law in the daily lives of the French people: what does that mean in practice