The European Commission (EC) plans to harmonise rules which require different packaging for similar products sold in different European Union (EU) states.

According to the EC, there are 25 national laws and two EU directives covering the sale of products. In particular, the EC wants to get rid of national rules governing indication of weight on packs.

Enterprise commissioner Günter Verheugen, who is introducing the new directive, said: "With the same tests and interpretations of the law in all member states, manufacturers can look forward to significant cost reductions. With EU rules aligned to international standards, they will be able to market their products anywhere in the world without needing to re-label."

Among the issues that the directive will address are whether water is included as a weight in frozen foods, whether the weight of products containing individually wrapped items should include all the packaging weight, and how the drained weight of products should be shown.

The EC has launched a public consultation which will run until March 15. Results will be published in the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is consulting on possible revisions to its guidance on the labelling and composition of meat products.