The Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2001

Explanatory Note

(This note does not form part of the Regulations)

1.  These Regulations amend, in relation to Wales, the Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations 1998 (“the 1998 Regulations”), which apply to Great Britain. These Regulations implement Commission Directive 1999/91/EC amending Directive 90/128/EEC relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs.

2.  These Regulations—

(a) update the list of monomers and additives which can be used in the manufacture of plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food (regulations 10 and 11 and Schedules 1 and 2);

(b) impose restrictions and specifications in respect of some of those monomers and additives (regulations 5(a), 6, 8, 10, 11 and 12 and Schedules 1, 2 and 4); in particular, a new type of restriction is introduced (maximum permitted quantity of the substance in the finished material or article expressed as milligrammes per 6 square decimetres of the surface in contact with the food);

(c) bring products obtained by bacterial fermentation within the scope of the 1998 Regulations and impose restrictions and specifications for such products (regulations 4, 5(b), 7 and 12 and Schedule 3);

(d) include a transitional provision (regulation 9); and

(e) make some consequential amendments (regulations 3 and 13(a)) and correct two errors in the 1998 Regulations (regulations 10(d) and 13(b)).

3.  A regulatory appraisal for these Regulations has been prepared pursuant to section 65 of the Government of Wales Act 1998 and placed in the library of the National Assembly for Wales. Copies may be obtained from the Food Standards Agency, 1st Floor, Southgate House, Cardiff CF10 1EN.