The Food for Particular Nutritional Uses (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2010

Who will this consultation be of most interest to?
Manufacturers of foods for particular nutritional use, enforcement authorities and lawyers.

What is the subject of this consultation?
The Food for Particular Nutritional Uses (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2010, which introduce provisions into law in England so that references to Directive 89/398/EEC in existing legislation are replaced by references to Directive 2009/39/EC.

What is the purpose of this consultation?
To seek comments on The Food for Particular Nutritional Uses (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2010 in England. Parallel regulations are also being produced in Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland and consultations on these will be run concurrently.

Council Directive 89/398/EEC on foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional uses (the 'parnuts' framework directive) has been amended by Directive 96/84/EC, Directive 1999/41/EC and Regulation (EC) 1882/2003. In 1987, the European Commission decided that legislative measures should be codified after no more than ten amendments, and preferably at shorter intervals, to ensure that they are clear and readily understandable; therefore, in 2004 the Commission began the process of codifying Directive 89/398/EEC.

In 2006, Council Decision 1999/468/EC laying down procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission was amended by Decision 2006/512/EC, which introduced a regulatory procedure with scrutiny for measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements of a basic instrument adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty. In accordance with a joint statement of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission (OJ C 255, 21.10.2006, p1), for this new procedure to be applicable to such instruments already in force, they must be amended. Therefore, the codification of Directive 89/398/EEC was transformed into a recast in order to incorporate these adjustments.

There are no significant differences between the text of Directive 89/398/EEC as amended and the text of Directive 2009/39/EC other than those which introduce a regulatory procedure with scrutiny; these new provisions do not need to be transposed. However, references to Directive 89/398/EEC in domestic law do need to be replaced by references to Directive 2009/39/EC.

1. Do nothing.
2. Introduce provisions into law in England so that references to Directive 89/398/EEC in existing legislation are replaced by references to Directive 2009/39/EC.

Option 2 is preferred as this will provide clarity to all those who deal with the legislation.

To note: The Food Labelling Regulations 1996 are amended relatively often. If a statutory instrument amending those Regulations is in prospect after the end of the consultation period on this statutory instrument, a decision may be taken to incorporate the text in this statutory instrument which amends the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 into the statutory instrument amending those Regulations.

A full 12-week public consultation is being undertaken on the draft Statutory Instrument and all responses received as part of this consultation will be given careful consideration. These will be summarised and published on the Agency’s website in due course.

Questions asked in this consultation:

1. Have we captured all the references to Directive 89/398/EC in existing legislation? If not, please tell us where others are.
2. Do you have other comments on the drafting of this Statutory Instrument? If so, please let us have them.

We welcome comments from all stakeholders. Please send your response by email or post using the contact details towards the top of this page.

Other relevant documents
Council Directive 2009/39/EC on foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional uses can be viewed below.

Responses are required by close on 2 November 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