The Antioxidants in Food (Amendment) Regulations 1991

Amendment of the English and Welsh and the Scottish Regulations

3.  After regulation 8 of the English and Welsh Regulations and after regulation 9 of the Scottish Regulations, respectively, there shall be inserted the following regulation (which shall be numbered 8A in the former and 10 in the latter)—

“Defence

8A.— (1) In any proceedings for an offence against regulation 4 of these regulations in respect of any relevant chewing gum it shall be a defence to show that the chewing gum is one—

(a) which has been (or is being) imported from another Member State of the European Economic Community, and

(b) to which the equivalence condition applies.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1) above—

(a) relevant chewing gum is any chewing gum which—

(i) is made from chewing gum base containing the permitted antioxidant Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) or Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) or any mixture of BHA and BHT, and

(ii) but for the fact that it comes within paragraph (i) of this subparagraph, would comply with these regulations;

(b) the equivalence condition applies to chewing gum where—

(i) if the alleged offence comprises sale, consignment or delivery, the chewing gum could at the time of its sale, consignment or (as the case may be) delivery have been lawfully sold, consigned or (as the case may be) delivered in equivalent circumstances, or

(ii) if the alleged offence comprises importation, the chewing gum could at the time of its importation have been lawfully sold for human consumption, fact that it has been imported (or the fact that it has been imported and the language in which it is labelled);

(c) a sale, consignment or delivery in another Member State shall not be deemed lawful if that Member State has failed to comply with a Community obligation, compliance with which could have rendered the sale, consignment or (as the case may be) delivery unlawful there; and

(d) where a Member State is divided into areas (however described) and—

(i) if the alleged offence comprises sale, consignment or delivery, there is at least one area in that Member State in which the sale, consignment or (as the case may be) delivery of that chewing gum in equivalent circumstances could not lawfully have taken place (for a reason other than the language in which it is labelled), or

(ii) if the alleged offence comprises importation, there is at least one area in that Member State in which the sale of that chewing gum for human consumption could not lawfully have taken place (for a reason other than the language in which it is labelled), in equivalent circumstances, that sale, consignment or delivery, or importation (as the case may be) can lawfully take place, and

(e) “human consumption” does not include use in the preparation of food for human consumption. ”.