The Food Labelling (Amendment) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

1.  These Regulations further amend the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (“the Principal Regulations”) in so far as they apply to Wales. Those Regulations extend to the whole of Great Britain. These Regulations implement in Wales Directive 2003/89/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No. L308, 25.11.2003, p.15) amending Directive 2000/13/EC as regards indication of the ingredients present in foodstuffs.

2.  The Regulations require that in the case of food containing any allergenic ingredient (as defined in regulation 3(a) and the Schedule) or an ingredient originating from an allergenic ingredient referred to in paragraphs 1 to 11 of the Schedule, the food be marked or labelled with a clear reference to the name of the allergenic ingredient concerned (regulations 12 and 14). There are exemptions in the case of food which is not prepacked, food which is prepacked for direct sale and fancy confectionery products (regulations 10 and 11).

3.  By virtue of Article 13(4) of Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No. L109, 6.5.2000, p.29) on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs, small packages and certain indelibly marked glass bottles are exempt from the allergen labelling requirements of Directive 2003/89/EC. The Regulations extend the allergen labelling requirements to such packages and bottles as a national measure (regulation 26 of the principal Regulations and regulations 4 and 12 of these Regulations refer). The Regulations were accordingly notified in draft to the European Commission under Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No. L204, 21.7.98, p.37) laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services, as amended by Directive 98/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No. L217, 5.8.98, p.18).

4.  Also in the implementation of Directive 2003/89/EC, the Regulations remove the previous exemption from ingredient listing in the case of the ingredients of a compound ingredient which constituted less than 25 per cent of the finished product, whilst providing a limited exemption for some compound ingredients constituting less than 2 per cent of the finished product (regulation 7(b) and (c)). The Regulations make some other adjustments to the detailed rules regarding the order in which ingredients are to be listed (regulation 5) and add a further ingredient to those which do not need to be named (regulation 8(b)). The Regulations make some consequential amendments (regulations 3(b), 6, 7(a), 8(a), 9 and 15) and contain a transitional provision (regulation 13).

5.  A regulatory appraisal of the effect that these Regulations will have on the costs of business has been prepared and placed in the library of the National Assembly for Wales together with a Transposition Note setting out how the main elements of Directive 2003/89/EC are transposed in these Regulations. Copies may be obtained from the Food Standards Agency, 11th Floor, Southgate House, Wood Street, Cardiff CF10 1EW.