Scottish Statutory Instruments
2015 No. 410
Food
The Food Information (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2015
Laid before the Scottish Parliament
4th December 2015
Coming into force
19th January 2016
The Scottish Ministers make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 6(4), 15A(b), 16(1), 17, 18, 26, 45 and 48(1) of, and paragraphs 1 and 4(b) of Schedule 1 to, the Food Safety Act 1990(), section 2(2) of, and paragraph 1A of Schedule 2 to, the European Communities Act 1972() and all other powers enabling them to do so.
These Regulations make provision for a purpose mentioned in section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972, and it appears to the Scottish Ministers that it is expedient for any reference to specified provisions of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011() of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004, to be construed as a reference to that Regulation as amended from time to time.
So far as the following Regulations are made in exercise of powers under the Food Safety Act 1990, the Scottish Ministers have had regard to relevant advice given by Food Standards Scotland in accordance with section 48(4A)() of that Act.
Citation commencement interpretation and extent
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Food Information (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Scotland) Regulations 2015.
(2) These Regulations come into force on 19th January 2016.
(3) In these Regulations:—
“the 2014 Regulations” means the Food Information (Scotland) Regulations 2014().
(4) These Regulations extend to Scotland only.
Specification of Food Information Law
2. For the purposes of section 15(A)(b) of the Food Safety Act 1990 the 2014 Regulations are specified as food information law.
Amendment of the 2014 Regulations
3.—(1) The 2014 Regulations are amended in accordance with this regulation.
(2) In regulation 2 (interpretation)—
(a)in paragraph (1)—
(i)at the appropriate alphabetical position insert ““Directive 1999/2/EC” means Directive 1999/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the approximation of laws of the Member States concerning foods and food ingredients treated with ionising radiation.”();
(ii)in the definition of “prepacked food”, after “Article 2(2)(e)” insert “and “prepacked” is to be construed accordingly”;
(b)in paragraph (3) after “applies” insert “)” and for “a regulation” substitute “a provision of the Regulations”;
(c)in paragraph (4) for sub-paragraph (c) substitute—
“(c)regulation 4(1) and (3) (derogation relating to minced meat);
(ca)regulation 5(1), (3), (5) and (6) (foods that are not prepacked etc, containing an allergenic substance or product etc.)”.
(3) In regulation 5 (foods that are not prepacked etc. containing an allergenic substance or product etc.) in paragraph (5)(a), after “aid is” insert “listed in or”.
(4) In regulation 8 (irradiated foods)—
(a)in paragraphs (2) and (4) for “ultimate” where it appears substitute “final”;
(b)for paragraph (6) substitute:—
“(6) In this regulation—
“in bulk”, “ionising radiation” and “product” have the same meaning as in Directive 1999/2/EC;
“places on the market” is to be construed taking into account the meaning of “placed on the market” as used in Article 2 of Directive 1999/2/EC; and”.
(5) In Schedule 2 (foods that are not products to which regulation 7(1) applies), at the end of paragraph 3, omit “20”.
(6) In Schedule 3 (specified FIC provisions) in the reference, omit “1(2)”.
(7) In Schedule 3 in Part 1 (specified FIC provisions applying on and from 13th December 2014)—
(a)for each entry in the second column relating to “the first paragraph of Article 54(1)” substitute “the first sub-paragraph of Article 54(1)”; and
(b)at the entry relating to Article 18(1) (list of ingredients), in the second column, for “(8)” substitute “8” and, in the same line, after “first” add “sub-”.
(8) At the end of the reference to Article 22(2) for “.” substitute “)”.
(9) In Schedule 4 (revocations), in Part 1 (revocations coming into force on 13th December 2014) omit the reference to The Miscellaneous Food Additives (Amendment) Regulations 1999 in the first column and the related text in the second column.
(10) In Schedule 5 (consequential and other amendments)—
(a)in paragraphs 1, 4, 8, 11 and 12, in each place where this occurs, for “Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers”, substitute “Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004”;
(b)for paragraph 2 (the food labelling regulations 1996) substitute:—
“Schedule 8 (misleading descriptions), Part I of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 is amended as follows—
(a)in column 2 of the entry relating to the description “alcohol-free”, for sub-paragraph (b) substitute—
“(b)the drink is marked or labelled with—
(i)an indication of its maximum alcoholic strength in a form comprising of the words “not more than” followed by a figure to not more than one decimal place indicating its maximum alcoholic strength and the symbol “% vol.” (required form 1), “alcohol % vol.” (required form 2), or “alc. % vol.” (required form 3), or
(ii)in an appropriate case an indication that it contains no alcohol.”;
(b)in column 2 of the entry relating to the description “dealchoholised”, for subparagraph (b) substitute—
“(b)the drink is marked or labelled with—
(i)an indication of its maximum alcoholic strength in required form 1, 2 or 3; or
(ii)in an appropriate case, an indication that it contains no alcohol.”; and
(c)in column 2 of the entry relating to the description “low alcohol” (or any other word or description which implies that the drink being described is low in alcohol), for subparagraph (b) substitute—
“(b)the drink is marked or labelled with an indication of its maximum alcoholic strength in required form 1, 2 or 3.””.
(c)for paragraph 5 substitute:—
“5. Regulation 2(1) (interpretation) of The Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 is amended as follows—
(a)in the definition of “ingredient”, for “the Food Labelling Regulations 1996”, substitute “Article 2(2)(f) of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011”;
(b)in the definition of “labelling”, for “the Food Labelling Regulations 1996”, substitute “Article 2(2)(j) of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011”;
(c)omit the definition of “the labelling regulations”; and
(d)insert the following definition in its alphabetical place—
““Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011” means Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004; and””."
(d)in paragraph 7(b)(ii), for “1169/2011” substitute “1169/2011””.
(e)in paragraph 13 for “.(c).” substitute “(c)”.
MAUREEN WATT
Authorised to sign by the Scottish Ministers
St Andrew’s House,
Edinburgh
2nd December 2015
EXPLANATORY NOTE
These Regulations make provision to specify “food information law” as required by Section 15A of the Food Safety Act 1990 to enable enforcement action to be taken under that Act for breaches of food information law. The Regulations make amendments to the Food Information Regulations 2014.
No consultation has been carried out as is normally required by Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety as the specification of food information law in regulation 2 was consulted on as part of the Food (Scotland) Act 2015 and the remaining amendments are technical amendments to the Food Information (Scotland) Regulations 2014 which were subject to consultation.
No business and regulatory impact assessment has been prepared for these Regulations as no impact upon business, charities or voluntary bodies is foreseen.