The main purpose of the Food Information Regulations (FIR) is to put enforcement provisions in place to enable certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers (EU FIC) to be enforced in England. The new Regulations also consolidate existing general food and nutrition labelling regulations in England. In addition, the Regulations take advantage of derogations contained in EU Regulations and carry forward some national measures.
Until now, the main EU Directive governing general food labelling has been Directive 2000/13/EC. This was implemented by the Food Labelling Regulations 1996, which also implemented other EU food provisions relating to nutrition labelling. Directive 2000/13/EC and other EU food legislation are being repealed and replaced by EU FIC. This will result in the revocation of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 and their replacement by these new Regulations. The EU FIC sets common definitions, general principles, requirements and responsibilities to provide a clear framework and a common basis for EU and national measures governing food information, and in particular food labelling. Most of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 were revoked on 13th December 2014 by these Regulations. What is left (certain provisions to do with alcohol descriptions and cream and cheese descriptions) were revoked on 13th December 2018.
