Nutrition labelling of foodstuffs (England)

The European Commission has produced a working document of a draft Directive to amend Directive 90/496/EEC (the 'Amending Directive') in relation to: RDAs, energy conversion factors and definitions. The Agency will be considering how the proposal can benefit consumers and industry, and will work with stakeholders to ensure UK views are represented. The comments received from this consultation will help inform the Government in its negotiations on the proposal.

A copy of a draft proposed Amending Directive can be found at the link below.

The Commission has indicated it will be issuing an updated version of the proposed Amending Directive in the latter part of March, at which point Member States will have one month to comment. It is not anticipated there will be significant changes to the current draft proposed Amending Directive and so we are consulting on the current draft to give stakeholders the maximum amount of time possible to respond. Any updated proposal will be made available on this web page as soon as it is available, with differences highlighted to inform responses.

Once the Amending Directive is adopted, a consequential amendment will be created to the proposed Food Information Regulation.

Key Issues
The Amending Directive:

• provides a definition of dietary fibre for labelling, to ensure nutrition claims made about, and nutrition labelling of, dietary fibre are on a consistent basis across Europe
• provides new energy conversion factors for fibre and erythritol
• updates the list of vitamins and minerals and associated RDAs to ensure coherence between Community legislation

Stakeholder views have been previously sought on these technical issues in a letter to interested parties, dated 24 May 2006, requesting stakeholder comment on the European Commission discussion paper on technical issues within the Nutrition Labelling Directive.

The transition period for this legislation has not yet been determined. A long transitional period should minimise costs to industry to implement the necessary changes to labels required by this legislation. We would welcome stakeholder views on suitable transition periods.

An initial Impact Assessment can be found at the link below. It summarises the estimated costs and benefits, based on available data, of the proposal. We would like to refer respondents to the specific questions set out within this document. We would also welcome any additional comments or data you may be able to provide.

In addition to the above we would welcome any views from all stakeholders with regards to:

• scope of the amending directive
• particular areas of concern
• practical difficulties (for example for small businesses)
• alternative suggestions and evidence

All respondents should seek to set out their rationale and supply evidence to back up facts and figures used.

This consultation has been prepared in accordance with the Better Regulation Executive's 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. Responses will be open to public access upon request. The FSA will also publish a summary of responses, which may include personal data, such as your full name and contact address details. 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)

As indicated in the consultation details above, the European Commission issued an updated version of the proposed amending Directive on 3 April 2008. Please find this document in the 'see also' links below, along with an interested parties letter highlighting the differences from the original text in the related links section below. The letter also informs stakeholders that the consultation period has been extended by one week and will now end on Friday 18 April 2008.

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 Chris Harvey, the FSA Consultation Co-ordinator, on 020 7276 8630.
Email: chris.harvey@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk