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Transpose EU regulations before time runs out

You can read the full article HERE

 

Food Labelling Services comments:

On March 29, 2017, the United Kingdom (UK) officially notified its intention to leave the European Union (EU).  As of March 30, 2019, EU food law will no longer be applicable to the UK unless a possible withdrawal agreement specifies otherwise.

The potential impact on food and food labelling is enormous, and there are already several labelling requirements that will have to be amended including:

  • Mandatory presentation of the origin of a food product, where the presentation refers to EU or non-EU. The UK will now be 'non EU.'
  • Mandatory labelling of the name or business name and address of the EU-27 importer of food from the United Kingdom. There is still no clarification whether imports into the UK will require a name or business name and address within the UK.
  • Mandatory health or identification marks according to Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004. As of the withdrawal date the health mark or the identification mark shall no longer include the “EC” abbreviation, which is reserved for establishments located in the EU, but shall only include the name of the United Kingdom (in full or with the ISO two-letter 'UK' code).
  • Organic production certificates issued by UK authorities to operators who sell their organic products in the EU will no longer be valid as of the withdrawal date. In addition, import of organic products from the UK will be subject to special rules. Organic produce that currently is produced in the UK, and states ‘EU Agriculture’ under the organic logo, will have to change to ‘non-EU Agriculture. Likewise, if a product is sourced from one of the EU-27 countries and the UK, it will have to change the declaration from 'EU Agriculture' to 'EU and Non EU Agriculture.

There is simply too many regulations to be reviewed before the end of the transitional period, and therefore, at Food Labelling Services, we agree with Nils Bings that the EU food laws should be transposed into UK law, and reviewed and adjusted in a timely manor.

There is a huge opportunity for change to the regulations, to the benefit of the UK. However, this should be done properly, with structure and thought.