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Our client asked:

The North American packaging regulation landscape is complex and fast-moving. Our client, a global food and snacks business, asked us to assess current and proposed regulations in California, create plausible future scenarios, and translate these into concrete actions that protect their California market access and reduce penalty exposure.

The project story:

  • Conducted a regulatory overview on California SB54, supported by context from related legislation across the US and Canada together with Sagentia Regulatory, identifying likely implementation pathways and key outstanding decisions
  • A series of internal interviews were held with a range of different stakeholders within our client to capture legal, procurement and R&D considerations
  • Evaluated regulatory uncertainties against market access and cost impact across the packaging portfolio, prioritising the issues with the greatest strategic significance
  • Developed a scenario matrix mapping implementation timing against enforcement flexibility, capturing key assumptions and leading indicators for each potential future scenario
  • This analysis was used to determine key triggers, risks and best bets for each scenario and a series of action pathways
  • This resulted in the creation of a timeline of actions and next steps to inform the client’s regulatory packaging taskforce and was presented to senior leadership, informing key immediate actions

 

Client benefit:

  • Summary of the regulatory context and why California is decision-critical including definitions and compliance requirements
  • A four-scenario matrix with assumptions and indicators, and an assessment of potential actions against each scenario
  • Implications were divided by packaging type, including a comparison of risks and constraints for core formats for California and possible ramifications to the wider US
  • Action pathways and decision tools were supplied, including low-regret actions, advocacy and evidence plans and a decision tree to gate investments

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