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Draft Food Labelling (Declaration of Allergens) (England) Regulations
European Union (EU) legislation currently requires that specified allergenic ingredients used in pre-packed foods are clearly declared. The regulations that are the subject of this consultation will implement Directive 2007/68/ EC into national legislation. This directive revokes a previous Directive (2005/26/EC) that has now expired, which provided temporary exemption from the allergen labelling requirements for certain derived ingredients that have been shown to no longer be allergenic, and now provides permanent exemption for a number of derived products. This letter formally seeks your views on draft national legislation to implement the EU Directive.

Separate but parallel legislation will be made in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Impact Assessment
6. The options are set out in the Impact Assessment in respect of an amendment to the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (as amended) ('FLR') (in so far as they apply in relation to England). These regulations implement in England Commission Directive 2007/68/EC of 27 November 2007, which amends Annex IIIa of Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council listing the ingredients which are exempt from food allergen labelling requirements.

Guidance notes
7. The Agency has also taken this opportunity to update the existing allergen labelling guidance notes by incorporating the new provisions. The Agency would welcome comments on the content and clarity of this document.

The draft regulation, Impact Assessment and the draft of the new guidance notes are included in the full consultation document at the link below.

Request for early resposnses
The Cabinet Office Code of Practice states that a written consultation must be held for a minimum of 12 weeks for at least once during the development of the policy. In order to have the necessary legislation in place within the deadlines set by the directive, this consultation is not being held for a full 12 weeks.

Here are the documents we were able to locate that relate to this consultation: