The Specified Sugar Products (Scotland) Regulations 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations, which extend to Scotland only, implement Council Directive 2001/111/EC relating to certain sugars intended for human consumption (O.J. No. L 10, 12.1.02, p.53). Article 2.2 of that Directive which concerns labelling of weights on small pre-packaged products will be implemented by separate Regulations. The Regulations revoke and replace the Specified Sugar Products (Scotland) Regulations 1976 (“the 1976 Regulations”), as amended.

The Regulations–

(a) prescribe definitions and reserved descriptions for certain specified sugar products (regulation 2 and Schedule 1, Part I);

(b) provide for the Regulations to apply to such specified sugar products intended for human consumption and ready for delivery to the ultimate consumer or to a catering establishment (regulation 3);

(c) restrict the use of reserved descriptions to the specified sugar products to which they relate (regulation 4);

(d) prescribe labelling requirements for such products (regulation 5);

(e) prescribe the manner of marking or labelling by applying specified provisions of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (regulation 6);

(f) specify a penalty, enforcement authorities and, in accordance with Articles 2 and 3 of Council Directive 89/397/EEC on the official control of foodstuffs (O.J. No. L 186, 30.6.89, p.23) and the European Economic Area Agreement, a defence in relation to exports (regulations 7 and 8);

(g) apply various provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 (regulation 9);

(h) make transitional provisions (regulation 10);

(i) revoke the previous Regulations and make consequential amendments (regulation 11 and Schedule 2);

(j) prescribe methods of analysis for testing certain sugars intended for human consumption in accordance with Commission Directive 79/796 laying down Community methods of analysis for testing certain sugars intended for human consumption (O.J. No. L 239, 22.9.79, p.24), and testing methods in accordance with Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 1265/69 on establishing methods for determining the quality of sugar brought in by intervention agencies (O.J. No. L 163, 1.7.69, p.1) (Schedule 1, Part II).

The Regulations differ from the 1976 Regulations by–

(a) inserting new reserved descriptions for fructose, glucose, fructose syrup, fructose-glucose syrup and glucose-fructose syrup;

(b) omitting the reserved descriptions and definitions of lactose, soft sugar, sugar solutions, white soft sugar, icing dextrose and powdered dextrose;

(c) excluding icing sugar, candy sugar and sugar in loaf form from the scope of the Regulations;

(d) introducing technical compositional changes for sugars; and

(e) re-enacting with modifications labelling requirements and methods of analysis to determine certain characteristics of specified sugar products.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment, which includes a compliance cost assessment of the effect that these Regulations would have on business costs, has been prepared and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Copies may be obtained from the Food Standards Agency, 6th Floor, St Magnus House, 25 Guild Street, Aberdeen AB11 6NJ.