The Food Safety (Information and Compositional Requirements) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016

Contents

1Citation and commencement#

These Regulations may be cited as the Food Safety (Information and Compositional Requirements) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 and come into operation on 20th July 2016.

2Interpretation#

(1)In these Regulations—• “Delegated Regulation 127” means Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/127 of 25 September 2015 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 609/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the specific compositional and information requirements for infant formula and follow-on formula and as regards requirements on information relating to infant and young child feeding; • Delegated Regulation 128” means Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/128 of 25 September 2015 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 609/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the specific compositional and information requirements for food for special medical purposes;• “the EU Regulation” means, subject to regulation to 2(2), Regulation (EU) No 609/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, on food intended for infants and young children, food for special medical purposes, and total diet replacement for weight control and repealing Council Directive 92/52/EEC, Commission Directives 96/8/EC, 1999/21/EC, 2006/125/EC and 2006/141/EC, Directive 2009/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Regulations (EC) No 41/2009 and (EC) No 953/2009 as last amended by Commission Delegated Regulation 2017/1091;• “food for special medical purposes” has the same meaning in these Regulations as in the EU Regulation;• “infant” means a child under the age of 12 months;• “the Order” means the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991; and• “specified EU requirement” means any provision of the EU Regulation or Delegated Regulation 127 or Delegated Regulation 128 specified in column 1 of Schedule 1, as read with the provisions specified in the corresponding entry in column 2.

(2)Any reference to Article 2(2) or to a specified EU requirement is a reference to that provision as amended from time to time.

(3)The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 ^note applies to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly

(4)Any reference to a provision of Delegated Regulation 127 or Delegated Regulation 128 contained in the table in Schedule 1 is a reference to that provision as amended from time to time.

(5)Any expression used in both these Regulations and in Delegated Regulation 127 or Delegated Regulation 128 has the same meaning it bears in Delegated Regulation 127 or Delegated Regulation 128, as the case may be.

3Enforcement#

It is the duty of each district council within its district to enforce these Regulations.

4Offence and penalty#

A person who fails to comply with Article 9(2) of the EU Regulation (substances in dangerous quantities) as read with Articles 1(1) and 4(1) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

5Application of provisions of the Order#

(1)Articles 9(1) and (2) of the Order (improvement notices) apply, with the modification (in the case of Article 9(1)) specified in Part 1 of Schedule 2, for the purposes of enabling an improvement notice to be served on a person requiring that person to comply with a specified EU requirement and making the failure to comply with an improvement notice an offence.

(2)Article 33 of the Order (powers of entry) applies, with the modifications (in the case of Article 33(1)) specified in Part 1 of Schedule 2, for the purposes of enabling an authorised officer—

(a)to exercise a power of entry to ascertain whether there is, or has been, any contravention of a specified EU requirement;

(b)to exercise a power of entry to ascertain whether there is any evidence of any contravention of a specified EU requirement; and

(c)when exercising a power of entry under the provisions of Article 33 as applied by this paragraph, to exercise the powers in paragraphs (6) and (7) relating to records.

(3)Article 37 (appeals) and Article 38 (appeals against improvement notices) of the Order apply, with the modifications specified in Part 1 of Schedule 2, for the purpose of enabling a decision to serve a notice referred to in paragraph (1) to be appealed.

(4)The provisions of the Order specified in column 1 of the table in Part 2 of Schedule 2 apply, with the modifications specified in column 2 of that Part.

(5)Paragraphs (1) to (4) are without prejudice to the application of the Order to these Regulations for purposes other than those specified in those paragraphs.

(6)In this regulation “authorised officer” has the same meaning as in Article 2(2)(a) of the Order.

6Amendments to Statutory Rules#

Schedule 3 has effect.

7Revocation#

The following Regulations are revoked—

(a)the Notification of Marketing of Food for Particular Nutritional Uses Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 ^note;

(b)Regulations 26 and 27 of the Infant Formula and Follow on Formula Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 ^note; and

(c)The Food for Particular Nutritional Uses (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 ^note.

8Transitional Arrangements#

(1)Infant Formula and Follow on Formula that does not comply with any specified provision of Delegated Regulation 127 specified in Schedule 1 may continue to be marketed until stocks of such food are exhausted provided that—

(a)it complies with the provisions of the EU Regulation specified in Schedule 1;

(b)it was placed on the market or labelled—

(i)before 22nd February 2020; or

(ii)before 22nd February 2021 in the case of infant formula and follow-on formula manufactured from protein hydrolysates, and

(c)the requirements specified in the following provisions of the Infant Formula and Follow on Formula Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 are met —

(i)regulation 3(1) (prohibition on the marketing of infant formula unless certain conditions are met) in the case of infant formula; or

(ii)regulation 3(2) (prohibition on the marketing of follow-on formula unless certain conditions are met) in the case of follow on formula.

(2)Food for special medical purposes that does not comply with any specified provision of Delegated Regulation 128 specified in Schedule 1 may continue to be marketed until stocks of such food are exhausted provided that—

(a)it complies with the provisions of the EU Regulation specified in Schedule 1;

(b)it was placed on the market or labelled—

(i)before 22nd February 2019; or

(ii)before 22nd February 2020 in the case of food for special medical purposes developed to satisfy the nutritional requirements of infants, and

(c)the requirements specified in the following provisions of the Medical Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 are met-

(i)regulation 3(1) (restrictions on sale of a medical food);

(ii)regulation 3(2) (restrictions on sale of a medical food of a particular type).

Schedule 1 · Specified EU Requirements

Schedule 2 · Application and modification of provisions of the Order

Part 1 · Modification of Articles 9(1), 33(1), 37 and 38

(1)For Article 9(1) of the Order (improvement notices) substitute—“1 If an authorised officer has reasonable grounds for believing that a person is failing to comply with a provision specified in paragraph 1A, the authorised officer may, by a notice served on that person (in this Order referred to as an “improvement notice”)—a state the officer's grounds for believing that the person is failing to comply with the relevant provision;b specify the matters which constitute the person's failure to so comply;c specify the measures which, in the officer's opinion, the person must take in order to secure compliance; andd require the person to take those measures, or measures that are at least equivalent to them, within such period as may be specified in the notice.1A Article 4(1) as read with Article 1(1) of Regulation (EU) No 609/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, on food intended for infants and young children, food for special medical purposes, and total diet replacement for weight control and repealing Council Directive 92/52/EEC, Commission Directives 96/8/EC, 1999/21/EC, 2006/125/EC and 2006/141/EC, Directive 2009/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Regulations (EC) No 41/2009 and (EC) No 953/2009 or a provision of that Regulation specified in Schedule 1 to the Food Safety (Information and Compositional Requirements) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 ”

(2)In Article 33(1) (powers of entry) for subparagraphs (a) to (c) substitute—“a to enter any premises within the council's district for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is or has been on the premises any contravention of a provision of Regulation (EU) No 609/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council on food intended for infants and young children, food for special medical purposes, and total diet replacement for weight control and repealing Council Directive 92/52/EEC, Commission Directives 96/8/EC, 1999/21/EC, 2006/125/EC and 2006/141/EC, Directive 2009/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Regulations (EC) No 41/2009 and (EC) No 953/2009 specified in Schedule 1 to the Food Safety (Information and Compositional Requirements) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016; andb to enter any business premises, whether within or outside of the council's district, for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is on the premises any evidence of any contravention within that district of any of those provisions.”

(3)For Article 37(1) (appeals) substitute—“1 Any person who is aggrieved by a decision of an authorised officer to serve an improvement notice under Article 9(1) as applied and modified by regulation 5(1) of, and Part 1 of Schedule 2 to, the Food Safety (Information and Compositional Requirements) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, may appeal to a court of summary jurisdiction”

(4)In Article 37(2A)(b) for “(1)(a)” substitute “ (1) as applied and modified by regulation 5(1) of and Part 1 of Schedule 2 to, the Food Safety (Information and Compositional Requirements) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, ”.

(5)In both Article 38(1) and (2) (appeals against improvement notices), after “improvement notice” insert “ under Article 9(1) as applied and modified by regulation 5(1) of, and Part 1 of Schedule 2, to the Food Safety (Information and Compositional Requirements) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 ”.

Part 2 · Application and modification of other provisions of the Order

Schedule 3 · Amendments to statutory rules

(1)

(1)The Food Intended for Use in Energy Restricted Diets for Weight Reduction Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 ^note are amended in accordance with subparagraphs (2) to (7).

(2)For the definition of “relevant food” in regulation 1(2), substitute—““relevant food” means specially formulated food intended for use in energy-restricted diets for weight reduction, being food which complies with the compositional requirements in Schedule 1 and which, when used as instructed by the manufacturer, replaces the whole of the total daily diet;”

(3)For regulation 2(1) substitute—“1 A person shall not sell any relevant food under any name other than “total diet replacement for weight control” in the case of products intended as a replacement for the whole of the daily diet.”

(4)In regulation 2(2) omit “or “meal replacement for weight control””.

(5)In regulation 3 for paragraphs (f) and (g) substitute—“f for products mentioned in regulation 2(1), a statement that the product provides adequate amounts of all essential nutrients for the day and a statement that the product should not be used for more than three weeks without medical advice.”

(6)For regulation 5 substitute—“5 A person shall not sell any relevant food being a product mentioned in regulation 2(1) unless all individual components making up the product are contained in the same package.”

(7)Schedule 1 is amended in accordance with paragraphs (a) to (f)—

(a)for paragraph 1 (Energy) substitute—“1 The energy provided by a product mentioned in regulation 2(1) shall not be less than 3360kJ (800 kcal) and shall not exceed 5040kJ (1200 kcal) for the total daily ratio”

(b)for paragraph 2.1 substitute—“2 The protein contained in products mentioned in regulation 2(1) shall provide not less than 25% and not more than 50% of the total energy of the product. In any case the amount of protein of products mentioned in regulation 2(1) shall not exceed 125g.”

(c)in paragraph 3.2 omit “(a)” after “2(1)”;

(d)omit paragraph 3.3;

(e)in paragraph 4 omit “(a)” after “2(1)”;

(f)for paragraph 5 “(vitamins and minerals)” substitute—“5 The products mentioned in regulation 2(1) shall provide for the whole of the daily diet at least 100% of the amounts of vitamins and minerals specified in the Table.”

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

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.