The ugly side to importing and selling 'artisan' soap

Ah, he's just young and idealistic. There is the letter of the law and on legalistic grounds he's right. However, the law is proving impractical and unenforceable, at least in part.
 
Dave Q said:
Having read all the posts the OP comes across as rather smug and little bit sad. The kind of person who'll rat out another person because they disagree with his point of view (and I imagine he has reported said vendors).
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I don't understand why this has become personal. Fine, if you disagree then make your point, but trying to draw conclusions about the OP's personality is unnecessary.
 
pjgh said:
Norway is not in the EU, but Europe and Scandinavia (the rest of which is in the EU) was no doubt their natural market and so for Fitjar, the most effective route would no doubt have been to have the soap verified themselves for the EU market. I guess that cost (and effort) outweighed the worth.

If Fitjar had taken the stance of US "artisans" (are they artisans, or just soap makers because I've had some right crap from the US) and left the hassle and cost of these regulations to be dealt with by an importer, the outcome might well have been different. With Europe being their primary market, I think that's the difference - US soap makers have a domestic market and simply will not care about Europe or its regulations; their attitude being that importers can fathom that for their own markets or folks can buy direct.
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Correct Norway isn't in the EU, but has signed up to a trade treaty that means they participate in everything that the EU does (free movement of labour, capital, goods etc - and to do that has to abide by all the relevant EU directives) pays handsomely for the privilege and has zero say on the future direction of travel.

Some politicians want to take the UK to the same relationship with the EU...
 
I think the point has been well made and everyone should be aware of the law now. Differring opinions as expected. One point possibly not clear is that untested does not mean dangerous. I take my chances at farmer markets and craft fairs all the time and am happy to risk it. I view artisan soaps the same. Mind you some of the 'artisans ' are very big business now. Only my opinion but perhaps the point could have been made with the nefarious suppliers direct.
 
these regs are there to protect consumers from unscrupulous manufacturers. while it may seem unlikely that an artisan would intentionally do such a thing it is not beyond the realms of probability that some seemingly innocuous ingredient could turn out to be hazardous. i feel for these small producers, it is obviously not in their interests to make a harmful product as it would destroy their reputation and their business and they will never have the R+D budget of the big boys to ensure compliance with a complex set of regulations. ultimately there should be some kind of simplified or less stringent set of regs for the smaller producer.
for example, if P+G soaps started to give you chlamydia or plague or donkey rash then it will affect many, many more people than if big bobs fine artisan potato and pickled goat shaving slop makes your chin itch-these two producers dont need the same level of regulation do they?
Credit to burgundy for bringing this up. no matter what you feel about the beaurocracy of the EU, when someone sidesteps the rules to gain an advantage it is incredibly unfair and will damage the small guys even further.
 
Potato and pickled goat, now if only Branston would bring that out in a chutney I'd be up for trialling it on my ( possibly unlawful ) favourite blue cheese ...

JohnnyO. :blush:/.
 
Sheesh! we are talking about a British retail distributor selling American artisan soaps that do not comply with EU Regs - though they do with American Regs. Probably.
 
Is this still a shaving forum? I thought I'd wandered into the Irananian nuclear decommission programme. Sheesh! As our friend from across the water so succinctly puts it. :icon_rolleyes:
 
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