The Nutrition and Health Claims (England) Regulations 2007

• Citation: S.I. 2007/2080
• Sections: 13

Section 1 Title, application and commencement

These Regulations may be cited as the Nutrition and Health Claims (England) Regulations 2007, apply in relation to England only and come into force on 1st October 2007.

Section 2 Interpretation

(1) In these Regulations —

“the Act” means the Food Safety Act 1990;

“ food authority ” does not include —

the appropriate Treasurer referred to in section 5(1)(c) of the Act (which deals with the Inner Temple and Middle Temple); or

the council of a district of a non-metropolitan county except where the county functions have been transferred to that council pursuant to a structural change;

“ port health authority ” means —

in relation to the London port health district, the Common Council of the City of London, and

in relation to any port health district constituted by order under section 2(3) of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 , a port health authority for that district constituted by order under section 2(4) of that Act;

“ the Regulation ” means Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on nutrition and health claims made on foods, as the Annex to that Regulation may be amended from time to time;

“ specified provision of the Regulation ” means—

Article 3 (general requirements relating to all claims);

Article 4(3) (restrictions on claims that may be made on alcoholic beverages);

Article 6(2) (requirement for use of claims to be justified);

Article 7 (requirements for nutrition information);

Article 8(1) (requirements for nutrition claims);

Article 9 (requirements for comparative claims);

Article 10(1), (2) or (3) (requirements for health claims);

Article 12 (prohibition of certain health claims); or

Article 14(2) (requirements for reduction of disease risk claims).

(2) Expressions used in these Regulations and in the Regulation have the same meaning in these Regulations as they do in that Regulation.

(3) Any reference to a numbered Article is a reference to the Article so numbered in the Regulation.

Section 3 Competent Authorities

The competent authority for the purposes of the Regulation —

(a) in relation to Articles 1(4), 15(2), 16(2) and 18(2) is the Secretary of State , and

(b) in relation to Article 6(3) is —

(i) each port health authority in its district, and

(ii) outside such districts, each food authority in its area.

Section 4 Enforcement

Each port health authority within its district and each food authority within its area shall execute and enforce the provisions of these Regulations and of the Regulation.

Section 5 Offences and Penalties

Subject to the derogation contained in Article 1(3) (relating to trade marks etc) and to the transitional measures contained in Article 28, any person who contravenes or fails to comply with a specified provision of the Regulation is guilty of an offence and liable —

(a) on conviction on indictment to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years or to a fine or both;

(b) on summary conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both.

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

Section 6 Application of various provisions of the Act

The following provisions of the Act shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations with the modification that any reference in those provisions to the Act or Part of it is to be construed as a reference to these Regulations —

(a) section 2 (extended meaning of “sale” etc);

(b) section 3 (presumption that food is intended for human consumption);

(ba) section 10(1) and (2) (improvement notices) with the modifications specified in Part 1 of the Schedule;

(c) section 20 (offences due to the fault of another person);

(d) section 21 (defence of due diligence) as it applies for the purposes of section 14 or 15;

(e) section 22 (defence of publication in the course of business);

(f) section 30(8) (which relates to documentary evidence);

(fa) section 32(1) to (8) (powers of entry) with the modifications specified in Part 2 of the Schedule;

(fb) section 33 (obstruction of officers);

(g) section 34 (time limit for prosecution);

(ga) section 35 (punishment of offences) with the modification specified in Part 3 of the Schedule;

(h) section 36 (offences by bodies corporate);

(i) section 36A (offences by Scottish partnerships); and

(ia) section 37(1), (3), (5) and (6) (appeals) with the modifications specified in Part 4 of the Schedule;

(ib) section 39 (appeals against improvement notices) with the modifications specified in Part 5 of the Schedule; and

(j) section 44 (protection of officers acting in good faith).

Section 7 Obstruction of officers and provision of information etc

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Section 8 Amendment of the Food Labelling Regulations

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Section 1

Section 10 is to be read as if, for subsection (1), there were substituted—

(1) If an authorised officer of an enforcement authority has reasonable grounds for believing that a person is failing to comply with a specified provision of the Regulation, the authorised officer may, by a notice served on that person (in this Act referred to as an “ improvement notice ”)—

(a) state the officer’s grounds for believing that the person is failing to comply with a specified provision of the Regulation;

(b) specify the matters which constitute the person’s failure so to comply;

(c) specify the measures which, in the officer’s opinion, the person must take in order to secure compliance; and

(d) require the person to take those measures, or measures which are at least equivalent to them, within such period (not being less than 14 days) as may be specified in the notice.

Section 2

Section 32 is to be read as if, for subsection (1)(a) to (c), there were substituted —

(a) to enter any premises within the authority’s area for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is or has been any contravention of a specified provision of the Regulation; and

(b) to enter any business premises, whether within or outside the authority’s area, for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is on the premises any evidence of any contravention within that area of a specified provision of the Regulation;

Section 3

Section 35 is to be read as if, after subsection (1A), there were inserted—

(1B) A person guilty of an offence under section 10(2) shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine.

Section 4

Section 37 is to be read as if—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) paragraphs (b) and (c) were omitted, and

(ii) for “a magistrates’ court or, in Scotland, to the sheriff”, there were substituted “the First-tier Tribunal” ,

(b) for subsection (3), there were substituted—

(3) The appeals procedure under the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (General Regulatory Chamber) Rules 2009 applies to appeals made under subsection (1).

(c) for subsection (5), there were substituted—

(5) The notice of appeal period under rule 22 of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (General Regulatory Chamber) Rules 2009 applies to appeals made under subsection (1).

(d) in subsection (6)—

(i) for “(3) or (4), there were substituted “(1)” , and

(ii) in paragraph (a), for “a magistrates’ court or to the sheriff”, there were substituted “the First-tier Tribunal” .

Section 5

Section 39 is to be read as if—

(a) in subsection (1) for “ court ” (in both places), there were substituted “First-tier Tribunal” , and

(b) in subsection (3), “for want of prosecution” were omitted.