What does this mean for food and agribusiness?
In April, it was widely reported that the UK Government is planning to legislate to enable ‘dynamic alignment’ with EU law with an SPS agreement about food to be the first example. What is now clear is this is expected to be a template for other markets with Rachel Reeves saying that regulatory divergence with the EU should the exception not the norm but it will be looked at on a sectorial basis
In the first instance this is expected to involve an agreement with the EU which would largely take away border checks for food in exchange for an ongoing commitment to align with EU food regulation.
For more detail on what ‘dynamic alignment’ means in legal terms – and why this is happening now, please refer to this article.
Comment
A certain amount of dynamic alignment between UK and EU law is already on the negotiating table in three areas:
- For animals, plants and related products under the auspices of a proposed Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement (summarised here);
- Carbon emissions trading; and
- Electricity.
Businesses should keep an eye out for the publication of which regulations will be in scope. A provisional list has already been published for food which means business can start to prepare for what this means for their labels and what they can sell in the future in the EU. To give you a flavour, it includes:
- Regulation 1924/2006 – Nutrition and health claims
- Regulation 852/2004 – General food hygiene
- Regulation 1333/2008 – Food additives
- Directive 2002/46/EC – Food supplements
- Regulation 2015/2283 – Novel foods
- Directives 82/711/EEC and 85/572/EEC - Plastics testing
- Regulation 1831/2003 – Additives for use in animal nutrition
- Regulation 1829/2003 – Genetically modified food and feed authorisation
- Regulation 1/2005 – Animal welfare during transport
- Regulation 1099/2009 – Welfare at time of killing
- Regulation 2100/94 – Plant variety rights
- Regulation 396/2005 – Maximum pesticide residue levels
If your business operates in the UK and the EU and you need assistance with any cross border regulatory issues, please get in touch.
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