It seemed to be done: from 1 October 2025 consumers would finally find the mandatory notice on Shrinkflation on the label, the practice with which companies reduce the quantities of a product leaving the price unchanged. But no!
As anticipates The sun 24 hoursthe obligation seems to slip again, this time until July 2026, thanks to an amendment inserted in the simplification bill to the examination of the Senate.
An extension that is justified with the need for “Interlocutions with Brussels and Stakeholders“, That is, all the people, groups or organizations that have an interest in the issue. Translated: if you talk about it in an abundant year, with all due respect to consumers who in the meantime will have to continue exercising the clinical eye in front of the shelves of the supermarket.
But what really is Shrinkflation?
The term shrinkflation – from English Shrink (restrict) and inflation (Inflation) – It indicates a commercial practice in which the price and aspect of the package remain unchanged, but the amount of product inside decreases. In other words, you pay the same – or even more – to have less.
This not very transparent practice of companies is widespread and really concerns a wide range of references: from chips, to chocolate, from detergents to animal food.
We talked about several cases that have “sprung up” in recent years (even if the phenomenon has been known for much more time):
What the new law provides for
The competition law had set a simple but revolutionary rule: from 1 April 2025 the producers would have been obliged to clearly and clearly report the reduction of the content of a product, through a specific wording of the type “This package contains a lower product than the previous quantity“.
The indication should have appeared on the label or directly on the package, remaining valid for at least six months from the placing on the market of the new version of the product. A mechanism designed to give consumers an immediate tool of comparison and to stem the increasingly widespread practice of identical packs outside but lighter inside.
Too bad that the path proved to be more accidental than expected: first the postponement to 1 October 2025, now – according to the latest advances – a new postponement on 1 July 2026. Each extension removes the actual application of the rule and leaves citizens once again in front of the shelves, forced to discover by themselves where the “deception” is hidden.
Europe is not convinced
However, the slowdown does not arise from nothing. In March the European Commission had opened an infringement procedure against Italy, believing that the obligation to report the reduction on each individual product was excessive and harmful to the free movement of goods. According to Brussels, less invasive solutions are enough, such as signs on display in the stores.
In addition, the EU stressed that the measure had been adopted before the notification phase provided by the directive on transparency of the single market was completed, without taking into account the detailed opinion of the Commission. As a result, Italy has received a formal recall letter, the first step of the European infringement procedure.
