The Specified Sugar Products (England) Regulations 2003

Title, commencement and extent E+W

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Specified Sugar Products (England) Regulations 2003, shall come into force on 12th July 2003 and shall apply to England only.

Interpretation E+W

2.  In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Food Safety Act 1990;

“candy sugar” means crystalline sugar with crystals having any dimension greater than one centimetre;

“catering establishment” means a restaurant, canteen, club, public house, school, hospital or similar establishment (including a vehicle or a fixed or mobile stall) where, in the course of a business, food is prepared for delivery to the ultimate consumer and is ready for consumption without further preparation;

F1 ...

F1 ...

“food authority” does not include—

(a)

the council of a district in a non-metropolitan county except where the county functions have been transferred to that council pursuant to a structural change, or

(b)

the appropriate Treasurer referred to in section 5(1)(c) of the Act (which deals with the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple);

“icing sugar” means fine particles of white sugar or extra-white sugar or mixtures thereof;

F2 ...

“preparation” includes manufacture and any form of processing or treatment and “prepared” shall be construed accordingly;

“reserved description”, as respects any specified sugar product, means any description specified in relation to that product in column 1 of Schedule 1 (as read with the notes relating to that Schedule) and the use of any such description in these Regulations shall be construed as meaning the product to which that description relates;

“sell” includes offer or expose for sale or have in possession for sale, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;

“specified sugar product” means any food specified in column 2 of Schedule 1 (as read with the Notes relating to that Schedule) but does not include any such food in the form of icing sugar, candy sugar or sugar in loaf form;

“sugar in loaf form” means a piece of agglomerated crystalline sugar, usually conically shaped, weighing not less than 250 grammes; and

“ultimate consumer” means any person who buys otherwise than—

(a)

for the purpose of resale,

(b)

for the purposes of a catering establishment, or

(c)

for the purposes of a manufacturing business.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 2 omitted (1.6.2018) by virtue of The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/575), regs. 1(2), 17(2)

F2 Words in reg. 2 omitted (13.12.2014) by virtue of The Food Information Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/1855), Sch. 7 para. 29

Scope of Regulations E+W

3.  These Regulations apply to specified sugar products, intended for human consumption and ready for delivery to the ultimate consumer or to a catering establishment.

Reserved descriptions E+W

4.  No person shall sell any food with a label, whether or not attached to or printed on the wrapper or container, which bears, comprises or includes any reserved description or any derivative thereof or any word or description substantially similar thereto unless—

(a) such food is the specified sugar product to which the reserved description relates;

(b) such description, derivative or word is used in such a context as to indicate explicitly or by clear implication that the substance to which it relates is only an ingredient of that food;

(c) such description, derivative or word is used in such a context as to indicate explicitly or by clear implication that such food is not and does not contain a specified sugar product; or

(d) such description, derivative or word is used in a customary name for another food product and is not liable to mislead the consumer.

Labelling and description of specified sugar products E+W

5.  Without prejudice to the generality of [F3 Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers] [F4 as last amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 of the European Parliament and of the Council on novel foods,] no person shall sell any specified sugar product unless it is marked or labelled with the following particulars—

(a) the reserved description of the product; and

(b) in the case of sugar solution, invert sugar solution and invert sugar syrup, the dry matter and invert sugar content of the product.

Textual Amendments

F3 Words in reg. 5 substituted (13.12.2014) by The Food Information Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/1855), Sch. 7 para. 30

F4 Words in reg. 5 inserted (29.3.2019) by The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Miscellaneous Amendments etc.) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/526), regs. 1(2), 24(2)

Manner of marking or labelling E+W

F5 6.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

F5 Reg. 6 revoked (13.12.2014) by The Food Information Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/1855), Sch. 6 Pt. 1 Entry 12

Penalties and enforcement E+W

7.—(1) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with regulation 4 or 5 of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(2) Each food authority shall enforce and execute these Regulations in its area.

Defence in relation to exports E+W

F6 8.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

F6 Reg. 8 revoked (1.1.2006) by The Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2005 (S.I. 2005/2626), reg. 1(b), Sch. 6 Pt. 2

Application of various provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 E+W

9.  The following provisions of the Act shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations with the modification that any reference in those provisions to the Act or Part thereof shall be construed for the purposes of these Regulations as a reference to these Regulations—

(a) section 2 (extended meaning of sale etc.);

(b) section 3 (presumptions that food is intended for human consumption);

(c) section 20 (offences due to fault of another person);

(d) section 21 (defence of due diligence) as it applies for the purposes of sections 8, 14 or 15 of the Act;

(e) section 22 (defence of publication in the course of business);

(f) section 30(8) (which relates to documentary evidence);

(g) section 33(1) (obstruction etc. of officers);

(h) section 33(2), with the modification that the reference to “any such requirement as is mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above” shall be deemed to be a reference to any such requirement as is mentioned in that subsection as applied by sub-paragraph (g) above;

(i) section 35(1) (punishment of offences) insofar as it relates to offences under section 33(1) as applied by sub-paragraph (g) above;

(j) section 35(2) and (3) insofar as it relates to offences under section 33(2) as applied by sub-paragraph (h) above;

(k) section 36 (offences by bodies corporate); and

(l) section 44 (protection of officers acting in good faith).

Revocations and consequential amendments E+W

10.—(1) The following Regulations are hereby revoked (insofar as they apply to England):

(a) the Specified Sugar Products Regulations 1976 M1 ;

(b) the Specified Sugar Products (Amendment)Regulations 1982 M2 .

F7 (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(3) The following entries relating to the Specified Sugar Products Regulations 1976 shall, insofar as the following Regulations apply to England, be omitted—

(a) in the Food (Revision of Penalties) Regulations 1982 M3 , in Schedule 1;

(b) in the Food (Revision of Penalties) Regulations 1985 M4 , in the Schedule, Part I;

(c) in the Food Safety Act 1990 (Consequential Modifications) (England and Wales) Order 1990 M5 , in Schedule 1, Part I, Schedule 2, Schedule 3, Part I and Schedules 6 and 12;

(d) in the Food Safety (Exports) Regulations 1991 M6 , in Schedule 1, Part I;

(e) in the Food (Forces Exemptions) (Revocations) Regulations 1992 M7 , in the Schedule, Part I;

(f) in the Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995 M8 , in Schedule 9;

(g) in the Miscellaneous Food Additives (Amendment) Regulations 1999 M9 , in regulation 14(1);

(h) in the Miscellaneous Food Additives (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2001 M10 , in regulation 9(2).

(4) In the Colours in Food Regulations 1995 M11 , insofar as they apply to England, in regulation 12 paragraph (2) shall be omitted;

(5) In the Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995, insofar as they apply to England—

(a) in regulation 10, paragraph (4) shall be omitted;

(b) in Schedule 2, in column 1, for the reference to “Directive 73/437/EEC” there is substituted a reference to “ Directive 2001/111/EC ”.

(6) In the Coffee Extracts and Chicory Extracts (England) Regulations 2000 M12 , insofar as they apply to England, in regulation 5(1)(c), for the reference to the Specified Sugar Products Regulations 1976 there is substituted a reference to the Specified Sugar Products (England) Regulations 2003.

Textual Amendments

F7 Reg. 10(2) revoked (13.12.2014) by The Food Information Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/1855), Sch. 6 Pt. 1 Entry 12

Marginal Citations

M1 S.I. 1976/509.

M2 S.I. 1982/255.

M3 S.I. 1982/1727.

M4 S.I. 1985/67.

M5 S.I. 1990/2486.

M6 S.I. 1991/1476.

M7 S.I. 1992/2596.

M8 S.I. 1995/3187.

M9 S.I. 1999/1136.

M10 S.I. 2001/3775.

M11 S.I. 1995/3124.

M12 S.I. 2000/3323.

Transitional provision E+W

11.  In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations it shall be a defence for the person accused to prove that—

(a) the food concerned was marked or labelled before 12th July 2004, and

(b) the matters constituting the alleged offence would not have constituted an offence under the Specified Sugar Products Regulations 1976 as those Regulations stood immediately before the coming into force of these Regulations.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Health

Hazel Blears

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,

Department of Health