Enforcement of European Parliament and Council: Regulations on Additives and Enzymes (England)

Who will this consultation be of most interest to?
Manufacturers of additives and enzymes and food manufacturers using these products; Enforcement Authorities.

What is the subject of this consultation?
Enforcement in England of new and revised EC legislation controlling the use of additives and enzymes in food.

What is the purpose of this consultation?
To offer stakeholders the opportunity to comment on draft enforcement provisions for the new EC Regulations on additives and enzymes.

In July 2006 the European Commission published proposals for European Parliament and Council Regulations aimed at clarifying and updating the existing legislation on food additives and flavourings and introducing new EC-wide rules on food enzymes, together with a proposal for common authorisation procedures for all three, based on scientific opinions from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

As European Parliament and Council Regulations, they are directly applicable in the UK; however Statutory Instruments (SIs) are required to enforce them and to identify penalties for failure to comply. The Regulation on flavourings will, however, generally apply 12 months later than the Regulations on additives and enzymes and so enforcement provisions for this Regulation will be consulted on next year. The Regulation on a common authorisation procedure does not have any elements which require enforcement in the UK and so it is not part of this consultation.

The purpose of this written consultation is to seek stakeholders’ views on enforcement in England of the EC Regulations described in this document. Impact Assessments and draft enforcement SIs for England can be found at Annexes B and C respectively. Separate, corresponding, SIs will be made in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and will be consulted on separately.

The FSA launched a 12-week consultation on the original Commission proposals in September 2006. Approximately 450 stakeholders were consulted across the UK and the proposals received general support with issues being raised on specific points. A summary of the 22 replies can be found via the link below.

Responses helped inform the UK negotiating position and further contact was maintained with a number of industry and consumer groups during Council negotiations. The UK supports the new Regulations on additives and enzymes and this new consultation seeks your views on provisions for their enforcement in England. Impact Assessments and draft England enforcement SIs for each EC Regulation can be found at Annexes B and C of this consultation document.

After this consultation closes, the FSA will reflect on your responses before deciding how to proceed.

Questions asked in this consultation

For each of the Impact Assessments at Annex B, we would particularly welcome contributions on:
Q1: the costs and benefits of the given options
Q2: administrative burden costs
We also welcome views on the assessments given in each of the Specific Impact Test Annexes at the end of each Impact Assessment and on the draft enforcement SIs at Annex C of this document.

European Parliament and Council Regulations on:

• Additives
• Enzymes

These can be accessed via the link below or hard copies can be provided on request.

Responses are required by close 21 October 2009. Please state, in your response, whether you are responding as a private individual or on behalf of an organisation/company (including details of any stakeholders your organisation represents).

This consultation has been prepared in accordance with the HM Government Code of Practice on Consultation, which states that a consultation must follow better regulation best practice, including carrying out an Impact Assessment (Regulatory Impact Assessment in Scotland). The assessment is included in the consultation documents.

We are interested in what you thought of this consultation and would therefore welcome your general feedback on both the consultation package and overall consultation process. If you would like to assist us to improve the quality of future consultations, please feel free to share your thoughts with us by using the consultation feedback questionnaire.

Consultation feedback questionnaire (Word)

Consultation feedback questionnaire (pdf)

In accordance with the FSA principle of openness our Information Centre at Aviation House will hold a copy of the completed consultation. The FSA will publish a summary of responses, which may include personal data, such as your full name. Disclosure of any other personal data would be made only upon request for the full consultation responses. If you do not want this information to be released, please complete and return the Publication of Personal Data Form. Return of this form does not mean that we will treat your response to the consultation as confidential, just your personal data.

Data protection form (Word)

Data protection form (pdf)

Within three months of a consultation ending we aim to publish a summary of responses received and provide a link to it from this page.

If, after three months, the summary is still not showing, please contact the person who was responsible for the original consultation. Alternatively, you can contact the FSA Consultation Co-ordinator by email: consultationcoordinator@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk