Statutory Instrument

S.I. No. 488 of 2003

European Communities (Purity Criteria on Food Additives other than Colours and Sweeteners) (Amendment) Regulations 2003

Dublin

Published by the Stationery Office

S.I. No. 488 of 2003

European Communities (Purity Criteria on Food Additives other than Colours and Sweeteners) (Amendment) Regulations 2003

I, Micheál Martin, Minister for Health and Children, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by Section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 ( No. 27 of 1972 ), and for the purpose of giving further effect to Commission Directive 96/77/EC¹ of 2 December 1996, laying down specific purity criteria on food additives other than colours and sweeteners, as amended by Commission Directive 98/86/EC² of 11 November 1998, Commission Directive 2000/63/EC³ of 5 October 2000, Commission Directive 2001/30/EC⁴ of 2 May 2001 and Commission Directive 2002/82/EC⁵ of 15 October 2002, hereby make the following Regulations:

1.       (1)      These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Purity Criteria on Food Additives other than Colours and Sweeteners) (Amendment) Regulations 2003.

(2)      The European Communities (Purity Criteria on Food Additives other than Colours and Sweeteners) Regulations, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002 and these Regulations may be cited together as the European Communities (Purity Criteria on Food Additives other than Colours and Sweeteners) Regulations 1998 to 2003.

2.       In these Regulations, “the Principal Regulations” means the European Communities (Purity Criteria on Food Additives other than Colours and Sweeteners) Regulations 1998 ( S.I. No. 541 of 1998 ).

3.  The Principal Regulations are hereby amended as follows:

(1)  in Regulation 2(1):

by the substitution for the definition of “the Commission Directive” of the following: ‘“the Commission Directive” means Commission Directive 96/77/EC^{2 2} of 2 December 1996, as amended by Commission Directive 98/86/EC⁴ of 11 November 1998, Commission Directive 2000/63/EC⁵ of 5 October 2000, Commission Directive 2001/30/EC⁶ of 2 May 2001 and Commission Directive 2002/82/EC⁷ of 15 October 2002” and by the addition of the following footnotes thereto:

(2)  in Regulation 3 by the substitution of the following:

“3.     Products put on the market or labelled before 31 August 2003, which do not comply with Commission Directive 2002/82/EC of 15 October 2002, may be marketed until stocks are exhausted and Commission Directive 2002/82/EC shall not apply to such stocks.”

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).

These Regulations amend the European Communities (Purity Criteria on Food Additives other than Colours and Sweeteners) Regulations 1998 ( S.I. No. 541 of 1998 ) and may be cited as the European Communities (Purity Criteria on Food Additives other than Colours and Sweeteners) (Amendment) Regulations 2003.

These Regulations implement Commission Directive 2002/82/EC which amends the Annex to Commission Directive 96/77/EC laying down specific purity criteria on food additives other than colours and sweeteners.

This S.I. adapts, due to technical progress, existing purity criteria set out in Directive 96/77/EC. It also establishes new purity criteria for those food additives for which purity criteria set out in Directive 96/77/EC were not sufficient.

Copies may be obtained from the Government Publications Sale Office, Sun Alliance House, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2 or by mail order from Government Publications, Postal Trade Section, 51 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Fax: 01-6476843. Price € 0.76

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND CHILDREN

October, 2003.

¹ OJ No. L339, 30.12.1996 p.1

² OJ No. L334, 9.12.1998 p.1

³ OJ No. L277, 30.10.2000 p.1

⁴ OJ No. L146, 31.5.2001 p.1

⁵ OJ No. L292, 28.10.2002 p. 1

² OJ No. L334, 9.12.1998 p.1

² OJ No. L334, 9.12.1998 p.1

“⁴ OJ No. L334, 9.12.1998 p.1

⁵ OJ No. L277, 30.10.2000 p.1

⁶ OJ No. L146, 31.5.2001 p.1

⁷ OJ No. L292, 28.10.2002 p.1”