The Nutrition and Health Claims (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2010

The Nutrition and Health Claims Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 (SR 2007 No. 349) make provision for the execution and enforcement of Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006¹. According to regulation 2(1) of the SR 'the Regulation' is defined as Regulation 1924/2006 as corrected.

Article 8.2 of Regulation 1924/2006 provides for the list of nutrition claims in the annex to be amended in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. At the 1st October meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, EU member states voted to add five fatty acid claims ('source of omega-3 fatty acids'; 'high omega-3 fatty acids'; 'high monounsaturated fat'; 'high polyunsaturated fat' and 'high unsaturated fat') to the list. The draft Commission Regulation to amend the Annex accordingly, after undergoing scrutiny by the Council and the European Parliament, is likely to be adopted in mid February 2010 and will come into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

In order to provide for enforcement with respect to the new claims SR 2007 No. 349 needs to be amended so that it refers to 1924/2006 as amended by this forthcoming Commission Regulation. However, the European Commission has recently put forward a draft proposal which would make further amendments to the nutrition claims annex and any resultant Commission Regulation would require the SR to be amended again. It is possible that there will also be further future amendments.

¹ As corrected by a Corrigendum (OJ No. L12, 18.1.2007, p3) and since amended by EC Regulations 107/2008 and 109/2008.

(1) Do nothing.
(2) Amend the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 to take account of the Commission Regulation adding five fatty acid claims to the annex to 1924/2006; then amend the Northern Ireland Regulations again when there are further amendments.
(3) Amend the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007 to introduce an ambulatory reference to Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006.

Preferred option

Each change to the nutrition claims annex could be dealt with by a separate amendment to the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulations (Northern Ireland). However, the most efficient way to provide for these similar changes to the SR would be to amend regulation 2(1) so that it makes an ambulatory reference to 1924/2006 as amended from time to time. Option 3 is therefore the preferred option.

A 12-week public consultation is being undertaken on the draft SR 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.
Question asked in this consultation:

Q1: Do you have any comments on introducing an ambulatory reference to Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006 into the 2007 Regulations? If so, please send them to us.
Q2: Will the proposed regulation impose any new burdens on your business? If so, please provide details including costs.
Q3: Do you have any comments on the drafting of this SR? If so, please send them to us.

We welcome comments from all stakeholders. Please send your response by email or post using the contact details on page 1.

• Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods
• The Nutrition and Health Claims (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2007

Both these documents can be viewed via the links below.

Responses are required by close on 29 March 2010. 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