These Regulations may be cited as the Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2004, shall apply in relation to England only and shall come into force on 30th December 2004.

The Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations 1998 shall be amended, in so far as they apply in relation to England, in accordance with regulations 3 to 6.

In regulation 2(1) (interpretation)—

(a)    at the end of the definition of “Commission Directive 2002/16” there shall be added “as amended by Commission Directive 2004/13/EC”;

(b)    at the end of the definition of “the Directive” there shall be added “as amended by Commission Directive 2004/1/EC”.

In the following provisions, the figure “2006” shall be substituted for the figure “2005”—

(a)    regulation 4A(1)(a);

(b)    regulation 5(1)(b)(i);

(c)    regulation 8A(1);

(d)    section A of Part I of Schedule 1, at item 40 in column 4.

In Part I of Schedule 2, at item 27A in column 4 (restrictions and specifications), after the words “For use only as a blowing agent” there shall be added the words “Use prohibited as from 2nd August 2005”.

In regulation 10 (offences)—

(a)    for paragraph (19) there shall be substituted the following provision—

“(19)    In any proceedings for an offence under regulation 3(1)(a) or (b) in relation to the requisite standards applicable to adhesives and materials and articles covered by a surface coating it shall be a defence to prove that—

(a)    the adhesive, material or article was brought into contact with food on or before 28th February 2003;

(b)    the date of filling (or subject to paragraph (24) of this regulation a coded indication of the date of filling) of the material or article concerned appeared on the adhesive, material or article at the time of sale; and

(c)    the labelling or marking with the particulars mentioned in subparagraph (b) at the time of sale complied with the requirements as regards labelling relating to durability contained in Article 2.1(a) of Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.";

(b)    paragraph (20) shall be omitted;

(c)    immediately after paragraph (22) there shall be added—

“(23)    In any proceedings for an offence under regulation 3(1)(a) or (b) in relation to the sale as from 2nd August 2005 of a plastic material or article containing azodicarbonamide with reference number 36640 in Part I of Schedule 2 it shall be a defence to prove that—

(a)    the plastic material or article was brought into contact with food before 2nd August 2005;

(b)    the date of filling (or subject to paragraph (24) of this regulation a coded indication of the date of filling) of the plastic material or article concerned appeared on the plastic material or article at the time of sale; and

(c)    the labelling or marking with the particulars mentioned in subparagraph (b) at the time of sale complied with the requirements as regards labelling relating to durability contained in Article 2.1(a) of Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and the Council.

(24)    For the purposes of paragraph (19)(b) and paragraph (23)(b) of this regulation the date signified by a coded indication shall have been made available on request to the Food Standards Agency and the enforcement authority.”.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Health

Melanie Johnson

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,

Department of Health

23rd November 2004

These Regulations, which apply in relation to England only, further amend the Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1376, “the 1998 Regulations”), which extend to the whole of Great Britain. These Regulations implement Commission Directive 2004/13/EC amending Commission Directive 2002/16/EC relating to the use of certain epoxy derivatives in materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs (OJ No L51, 22.2.2002, p 27) and also implement Commission Directive 2004/1/EC amending Commission Directive 2002/72/EC in relation to the use of azodicarbonamide as a blowing agent (OJ No L220, 15.8.2002, p 18).

The Regulations amend the 1998 Regulations by—

(a)    extending by a year the provisional authorisation of 2,2–bis(hydroxyphenyl)propane bis(2,3–epoxypropyl)ether (“BADGE”) (regulation 4);

(b)    prohibiting the use of the blowing agent azodicarbonamide as from 2nd August 2005 (regulation 5);

(c)    amending the defence available under regulation 10 paragraphs (19) and (20) of the 1998 Regulations to allow for a date code as an alternative to the date of filling itself appearing on materials and articles covered by a surface coating, the defence being conditional on the meaning of the code having been disclosed on request to the Food Standards Agency and the enforcement authority (regulation 6(a)and (b));

(d)    creating a defence relating to azodicarbonamide used in plastic materials or articles brought into contact with food before 2nd August 2005 similar to that which applies to materials and articles covered by a surface coating (regulation 6(c)).

A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared for these Regulations and has been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament, together with a transposition note setting out how the main elements of Commission Directive 2004/1 and 2004/13/EC are transposed into domestic law by these Regulations. Copies may be obtained from the Chemical Safety Division of the Food Standards Agency, Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH.