FSA Consultation, 22 June 2007

LABELLING - Consultation on UK National Food Labelling Provisions

For a copy of the consultation documet, see: UK National Labelling Provisions

The national provisions within the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (as amended) have evolved over time in response to domestic need, and have so far been unaffected by European Union (EU) law. The European Commission (EC) is currently reviewing EU food labelling legislation and has indicated that the current food labelling directive will be replaced by a directly applicable regulation. Responses are requested by: 31 August 2007

Consultation details

The national labelling provisions are being reviewed with the objective of either removing them or seeking to retain them at European level. The Agency seeks comments on the options and recommendations set out in the attached Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA).

The labelling provisions in question are:

• Provident Societies — Regulation 4(3)(b)
• Charities — Regulation 4(3)(c)
• Fortified Flour — Regulation 18(1)(e)
• Added Ingredients — Regulation 18(2)
• Manner of Presentation flexibility — Regulations 20(3)(b) and 21(3)(b)
• Flour Confectionery — Regulation 23(1)(b)
• Minor accompaniment — Regulation 26(3) and 26(3)(a)

Background

The Commission is expected to produce a draft proposal by the end of the year. This will form the basis for negotiation between Member States for what is likely to be a new directly applicable EU Regulation on consumer information. The current legislation is in the form of a Directive that Member States are required to give effect to in national legislation.

The Food Standards Agency (the Agency) has identified a number of provisions in the Food Labelling Regulations (FLR), which do not have a basis in European legislation. The only way to keep these provisions in force legally would be to have them included within the forthcoming EU legislation. The UK must therefore decide which, if any, of these food-labelling provisions it wishes to negotiate the retention of in Brussels .

The objective of this consultation is to set out the issues as they are currently understood and obtain your views on the potential impact of the lapsing of these provisions. Information obtained will inform the Government's thinking and the development of policy, which will in turn form the basis of negotiations in Brussels .

Questions

The Agency's provisional recommended options in respect of each provision are set out, with reasons, in the attached Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment at pages 3-12.

In order to inform policy decisions we need a robust evidence base. To help achieve this we have set out a number of questions in a questionnaire. Responses should be structured to match the questions listed in the questionnaire.