Food Law News - UK - 2005


FSA Consultation, 9 November 2005

OFFICIAL CONTROLS - Revised Draft Food Law Code of Practice

The Agency has issued a further draft of the Code of Practice and Practice Guidance for England. The latest draft will allow authorised officers at local authorities and port health authorities to become familiar with its contents. The Agency issued a formal consultation earlier this year.

Further revisions are necessary to take account of EU food hygiene regulations and the national implementing regulations relating to England, all of which are applicable from 1 January 2006.

The reason for the documents being issued in draft is that there are ongoing matters in relation to the legislative changes at both European and national level which will mean that further revisions to the documents will be necessary.

For copies of the drafts, see

For a summary of the main changes to the Code and Practice Guidance, see: http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/draftcopenglandsummary.pdf


Letter sent to local authorities in England

4 November 2005 Reference: ESA/0126

REVISED DRAFT CODE OF PRACTICE AND PRACTICE GUIDANCE ON FOOD LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR ENGLAND

You will recall that on 16 May this year the Agency launched a public consultation exercise to seek the views of interested parties on revised versions of the Code of Practice on food law enforcement for England and the associated Practice Guidance. These revisions are necessary to take account of EU food hygiene regulations and the national implementing regulations relating to England, all of which are applicable from 1 January 2006.

Please find enclosed further drafts of the documents which the Agency is issuing to allow authorised officers within your authority to become familiar with their contents in the time available before the new legislation comes into effect. The most significant changes to the Code and Practice Guidance from the current documents are set out in the enclosed summary table. Copies of the relevant EU Regulations are also enclosed for ease of reference. The documents are also available via the Enforcement Portal of the Agency’s website at:

The draft Code of Practice and Practice Guidance reflect the requirements of the current implementing legislation relating to England i.e. the Food Hygiene ( England) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No. 2059) and the Official Feed and Food Controls ( England) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No. 2626). These can respectively be found on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website at the following addresses:

The reason for Code of Practice and Practice Guidance being issued in draft is that there are on-going matters in relation to the legislative changes at both European and national level, which will mean that further revisions to the documents will be necessary.

As you will be aware, draft legislation intended to replace and augment the existing implementing regulations has been issued by the Agency for public consultation. The relevant documents can be found on the Agency’s website at:

Once the final versions of the No. 2 Regulations have been laid before Parliament, and the final version of the Code of Practice reflecting the necessary amendments has received the necessary Ministerial approval, the Agency will send the final versions of the Code of Practice and Practice Guidance to Food Authorities in England. Given that consultations on the respective No.2 Regulations do not end until 13 December this issue is likely to happen in late December, so I would urge you to ensure that authorised officers within your authority take this opportunity to familiarise themselves with the contents of the draft documents.

You will wish to note that whilst this issue of the draft Code of Practice and Practice Guidance does not constitute a formal consultation, any comments you may wish to submit to the Agency by Friday 2 December will be considered carefully.


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