Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Regulations.)
These Regulations, which amend the Food for Particular Nutritional Uses (Addition of Substances for Specific Nutritional Purposes) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 (“the principal Regulations”), implement –
(a)Commission Directive 2004/5/EC (O.J. No. L14, 21.1.2004, p. 19) amending Directive 2001/15/EC to include certain substances in the Annex; and
(b)Commission Directive 2004/6/EC (O.J. No. L15, 22.1.2004, p. 31) derogating from Directive 2001/15/EC to postpone the application of the prohibition of trade to certain products.
The principal Regulations apply to food for most particular nutritional uses (see the definition of “designated PNU foods” in regulation 2(1) of those Regulations). Where there has been added to that food for a specific nutritional purpose a substance falling within one of the following categories: vitamins; minerals; amino acids; carnitine and taurine; nucleotides; choline and inositol, those Regulations prohibit (in most cases from 1st April 2004) the sale of such food unless the substance is listed under the relevant category in Schedule 1 or, in the case of foods for special medical purposes, Schedule 1 or 2.
These Regulations –
(a)allow until 1st January 2007, subject to conditions, the sale of designated PNU foods to which there has been added a substance listed in new Schedule 3 to the principal Regulations (regulations 4 and 7 and Schedule 2);
(b)add another substance to the list of substances in the category minerals and in the category carnitine and taurine which may be added for specific nutritional purposes in designated PNU foods (regulation 5);
(c)add six substances to the list of substances in the category amino acids which may be added for specific nutritional purposes in foods for specific medical purposes (regulation 6 and Schedule 1); impose a condition of use in the case of one of these substances (regulation 4(a) and Schedule 1); and in implementation of the Annex to Directive 2001/15/EC (O.J. No. L52, 22.2.2001, p. 19) provide that for amino acids also the sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium salts, as well as their hydrochlorides may be used (Schedule 1);
(d)update the definition of “Directive 2001/15” (regulation 3).