Title, extent and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the General Food Regulations 2004; they extend to Great Britain and come into force on 1st January 2005.

Interpretation

2. —(1) In these Regulations —

“ the Act ” means the Food Safety Act 1990;

“ the Agency ” means the Food Standards AgencyFood Standards Scotland ;

“ port health authority ” means —

“ Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 ” means Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety , as read with Commission Implementing Regulation ( EU ) No. 931/2011 on the traceability requirements set by Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council for food of animal origin and with Commission Implementing Regulation ( EU ) No. 208/2013 on traceability requirements for sprouts and seeds intended for the production of sprouts

“Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 ” means Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety, as read with Commission Implementing Regulation ( EU ) No 931/2011 on the traceability requirements set by Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council for food of animal origin, and with Commission Implementing Regulation ( EU ) No 208/2013 on traceability requirements for sprouts and seeds intended for the production of sprouts .

“ third country ” means a country or state other than the United Kingdom.

(2) Expressions used both in these Regulations and in Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 have the same meaning in these Regulations as they have in that Regulation.

Competent authorities for the purposes of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002

3.—(1) The following bodies are designated as the competent authorities for the purposes of the provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 specified in paragraph (2) —

(a) the Agency,

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

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

(2) Those provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 are —

(a) Article 14(8) (power of competent authorities to take appropriate measures to impose restrictions on the placing of food on the market or to require its withdrawal from the market in certain circumstances);

(b) Article 18(2) and (3) (competent authorities to whom food business operators must make information available on demand as to the traceability of food);

(c) Article 19 (food business operators to inform and collaborate with competent authorities to avoid or reduce risks posed by a food).

Requirements under Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 : offences

4. Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any of the following provisions of Regulation ( EC ) No. 178/2002 shall be guilty of an offence—

(a) Article 12 (food and feed exported from Great Britain ) in so far as it relates to food;

(a) Article 12 (food and feed exported from Great Britain) in so far as it relates to food;

(b) Article 14(1) (food safety requirements);

(c) Article 16 (presentation) in so far as it relates to food;

(d) Article 18(2) or (3) (traceability) in so far as it relates to food business operators;

(e) Article 19 (responsibilities for food: food business operators).

Punishment of offences

5.—(1) A person guilty of an offence under regulation 4 shall be liable —

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

(b) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the relevant amount or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both.

(2) In paragraph (1) “ the relevant amount ” means —

(a) in the case of an offence under regulation 4(b), £20,000;

(b) in any other case, the statutory maximum.

Enforcement

6.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), each food authority shall enforce and execute the following provisions of Regulation ( EC ) No. 178/2002 and these Regulations in its area–

(a) Article 12 in so far as it relates to food;

(b) Article 14;

(c) Article 16 in so far as it relates to food;

(d) Article 18 in so far as it relates to food business operators; and

(e) Article 19.

(2) Each port health authority shall enforce and execute those provisions of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 and these Regulations in its district.

(3) The Agency shall also enforce and execute Articles 14 and 19 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 and these Regulations in so far as they relate to those Articles as regards relevant food.

(4) In paragraph (3) “ relevant food ” means food in respect of which the Agency is specified in regulations made pursuant to section 6(4) of the Act or made under the European Communities Act 1972 as being the enforcement authority.

Defence for exports

6A. In any proceedings for an offence of contravening or failing to comply with food law it shall be a defence for the accused to prove–

(a) that the item in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed was intended for export to a third country and that the item could lawfully be exported there under Article 12 of Regulation ( EC ) No. 178/2002 ; ...

(b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Defence for exports

6A. In any proceedings for an offence of contravening or failing to comply with food law it is a defence for the accused to prove that the item in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed—

(a) was intended for export to a third country; and

(b) could lawfully be exported there under Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 .

Application of various provisions of the Act

7.—(1) 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 thereof shall be construed as a reference to these Regulations —

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

(b) section 21 (defence of due diligence) with the modifications that subsections (2) to (4) shall apply in relation to an offence under regulation 4(a) or (b) as they apply in relation to an offence under section 14 or 15, and in subsection (4) the references to “sale” shall be deemed to include references to “placing on the market”;

(c) section 22 (defence of publication in the course of a business) with the modification that the words “for sale” shall be omitted;

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

(e) section 35(1) (punishment of offences) in so far as it relates to offences under section 33(1) as applied by paragraph (3) below;

(f) section 35(2) and (3) in so far as it relates to offences under section 33(2) as applied by paragraph (3) below;

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

(h) section 36A (offences by Scottish partnerships) .

(2) In the application of section 32 of the Act (powers of entry) for the purposes of these Regulations, the references in subsection (1) to the Act shall be construed as including references to Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 .

(3) 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 shall be construed as including a reference to Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 and these Regulations —

(a) section 3 (presumptions that food is intended for human consumption) with the modifications that the references to “sold” and “sale” shall be deemed to include references to “placed on the market” and “placing on the market” respectively;

(b) section 33(1) (obstruction etc. of officers);

(c) section 33(2), with the modification that the reference to “any such requirement as is mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above” shall be deemed to be a reference to any such requirement as is mentioned in that subsection as applied by sub–paragraph (b) above;

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

(4) Section 34 of the Act (time limit for prosecutions) shall apply to offences under regulation 4 as it applies to offences punishable under section 35(2) of the Act.

Amendment of the Act

8. The Act shall be amended in accordance with regulations 9 to 15.

9. In section 7 (rendering food injurious to health) —

(a) there shall be substituted for subsection (2) the following subsection —

“ (2) In determining for the purposes of this section whether any food is injurious to health, regard shall be had to the matters specified in sub–paragraphs (a) to (c) of Article 14(4) of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 . ” ;

(b) subsection (3) shall be omitted.

10. In section 8 (selling food not complying with food safety requirements) —

(a) subsection (1) shall be omitted;

(b) for subsections (2) and (3) there shall be substituted —

“ (2) For the purposes of this Part food fails to comply with food safety requirements if it is unsafe within the meaning of Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 and references to food safety requirements or to food complying with such requirements shall be construed accordingly. ” .

11. In section 9 (inspection and seizure of suspected food) —

(a) in subsection (1) —

(i) after paragraph (a) the word “or” shall be omitted; and

(ii) after paragraph (b) the following paragraph shall be inserted —

“ or

(c) is otherwise placed on the market within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 . ” ;

(b) in subsection (5) there shall be substituted for the words “or 8 above” the words “ or regulation 4(a) of the General Food Regulations 2004 ” .

12. In section 11 there shall be inserted after subsection (2) —

“ (2A) In subsection (2) above and in sections 12(4) and 13(1) “ injury ” includes any impairment, whether permanent or temporary. ” .

13. In section 21(2) (defence of due diligence) there shall be substituted for the words “section 8, 14 or 15” the words “ section 14 or 15 ” .

14. In section 35(3)(a) (punishment of offences) there shall be substituted for the words “section 7, 8 or 14” the words “ section 7 or 14 ” .

15. In section 53(2) (interpretation) —

(a) there shall be substituted for the entry for “food safety requirements and related expressions” the following entry —

(b) the entry for “injury to health and injurious to health” shall be omitted.

Consequential amendment of Regulations

16. —(1) This regulation applies to any provision of any Regulations by virtue of which immediately before the coming into force of these Regulations section 8(3) of the Act applies where any requirements of those Regulations or any requirements referred to in those Regulations are contravened in respect of any food.

(2) Any provision to which paragraph (1) applies shall be construed as providing that where any requirements of those Regulations or any requirements referred to in those Regulations are contravened in respect of any food and that food is part of a batch, lot or consignment of food of the same class or description, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that all of the food in that batch, lot or consignment fails to comply with those requirements.