The Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2018

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Natural Mineral Water, Spring Water and Bottled Drinking Water (England) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/2785) (“the principal Regulations”), as amended. The principal Regulations regulate natural mineral water, spring water and bottled drinking water in England and implement various EU directives and regulations, including (relevant for the purposes of these Regulations) Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption (OJ No. L 330, 5.12.1998, p. 32).

These Regulations amend the principal Regulations to implement, in relation to England, the provisions in the following Directives so far as they relate to bottled spring water and bottled drinking water—

(a) Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom laying down requirements for the protection of the health of the general public with regard to radioactive substances in water intended for human consumption (OJ No. L 296, 7.11.2013, p. 12), and

(b) Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1787 amending Annexes II and III to Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption (OJ No. L 260, 7.10.2015, p. 6).

The provisions of Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom and Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1787 also apply to public and private supplies of water. The provisions of Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom, so far as they apply to such water supplies, are implemented in England by the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/614), as amended, and the Private Water Supplies (England) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/618), as amended. Both Regulations will be amended to implement the provisions of Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1787 in England, so far as they apply to public and private water supplies.

The following changes are made to the principal Regulations to implement Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom and Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1787 in relation to bottled spring water and bottled drinking water—

(a) the amendment of regulation 16 (enforcement) (regulation 6), omitting monitoring obligations that no longer apply or that are contained in the new Schedule 12 inserted into the principal Regulations by these Regulations,

(b) the insertion of regulation 16A (regulation 7), the omission of regulation 19 (methods of analysis) (regulation 8(a)) and the insertion of the new Schedule 12 (regulation 12 and Schedule 2) relating to the monitoring of bottled spring water and bottled drinking water. The new Schedule 12 is the main place in which the requirements relating to the monitoring of bottled spring water and bottled drinking water are to be found (the provisions of Council Directive 98/83/EC and Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1787 do not apply to natural mineral water),

(c) the replacement of Schedule 2 (requirements for bottled spring water and bottled drinking water) (regulation 10 and Schedule 1). Part 4 of the substituted Schedule 2 partly implements Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom in relation to concentrations of radon and tritium in bottled spring water and bottled drinking water and the indicative dose (a measure of radioactivity) for such water. The substituted Schedule 2 also omits the minimum calcium requirement for softened and desalined water previously contained in Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations. The rest of the substituted Schedule 2 re-implements Parts A (microbiological parameters) and B (chemical parameters) of Annex I to Council Directive 98/83/EC, and

(d) the omission of Schedules 9 to 11 (audit monitoring, check monitoring and minimum sampling frequencies) (regulation 11). Those Schedules no longer apply to spring water and bottled drinking water following the repeal of the relevant provisions in Council Directive 98/83/EC by Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1787.

The Regulations also replace regulation 22 of the principal Regulations (application of provisions in the Food Safety Act 1990 (1990 c.16)) (regulation 9) and insert a new Schedule 13 (regulation 12 and Schedule 2). The new provisions apply (with modifications) more provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 to the principal Regulations than before. This includes the application (with modifications) of section 10(1) of the Food Safety Act 1990, enabling an improvement notice to be served requiring compliance with specified provisions of the principal Regulations. The provisions, as applied, make the failure to comply with an improvement notice an offence. They replace the provisions that were in regulation 20 of the principal Regulations relating to offences and penalties. That regulation and regulation 21 of the principal Regulations (defences) are omitted (regulation 8(b) and (c)).

The Regulations also make minor amendments to the principal Regulations, updating the definitions in regulation 2 of the principal Regulations (regulation 3), updating out of date references to legislation in regulation 3 (exemptions) of the principal Regulations (regulation 4) and omitting unnecessary wording in regulation 14 of the principal Regulations (regulation 5).

Digital and hard copies of the British Standards referred to in these Regulations published by the British Standards Institution can be purchased online from the BSI Group at http://www.bsigroup.com. Hard copies of the standards can also be purchased by post from the BSI Group’s Customer Services Department at 389 Chiswick High Road, London W4 4AL.

Digital and hard copies of the ISO standards referred to in these Regulations can be purchased online from the International Organization for Standardization (http://www.iso.org). They can also be purchased online from the BSI Group internet address mentioned above and in hard copy form from the BSI Group at the postal address mentioned above.

A digital copy of “ICRP, 2012. Compendium of Dose Coefficients based on ICRP Publication 60. ICRP Publication 119. Ann. ICRP 41 (Suppl.)” is available digitally and can be downloaded for free at https://www.icrp.org or https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1016/j.icrp.2013.05.003. It is anticipated that hard copies of the Compendium will become available to purchase online in the future from Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk and SAGE Publishing at https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/series/Series2503. A hard copy of the Compendium can be obtained from the Food Compositional Standards Team at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Second Floor, Seacole Block, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.

An impact assessment has not been prepared for these Regulations as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. The Explanatory Memorandum for the Regulations is available alongside the Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk. A Transposition Note relating to the provisions of Annex I to Council Directive 98/83/EC (re-implemented by these Regulations) and the implementation of Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom and Commission Directive (EU) 2015/1787 is submitted with the Explanatory Memorandum and is available on www.legislation.gov.uk. A hard copy of the Explanatory Memorandum and the Transposition Note can be obtained from the Food Compositional Standards Team at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the address given above.