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"Directive 2001/110" means Council Directive 2001/110/EC relating to honey[4];

"EEA Agreement" means the Agreement on the European Economic Area[5] signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol[6] signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993;

"EEA State" means a State which is a Contracting Party to the EEA Agreement;

"food authority" does not include - 

(a) the council of a district in a non-metropolitan county in England except where the county functions have been transferred to that council pursuant to a structural change; or

(b) the appropriate Treasurer referred to in section 5(1)(c) of the Act (which deals with the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple);

"honey" means the natural sweet substance produced by Apis mellifera bees from the nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant-sucking insects on the living parts of plants which the bees collect, transform by combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave in honeycombs to ripen and mature;

"ingredient" has the meaning assigned to it by the 1996 Regulations;

"labelling" has the meaning assigned to it by the 1996 Regulations;

"preparation" includes manufacture and any form of processing or treatment; and

"the 1996 Regulations" means the Food Labelling Regulations 1996[7];

"reserved description", as regards any specified honey product means any description specified in relation to that product in column 1 of Schedule 1 (as read with the Notes relating to that Schedule);

"sell" includes offer or expose for sale and includes have in possession for sale, and "sale" shall be construed accordingly;

"specified honey product", subject to paragraph (2) means any food specified in column 2 of Schedule 1;

"ultimate consumer" means any person who buys food otherwise than - 

(a) for the purpose of resale,

(b) for the purposes of a catering establishment, or

(c) for the purposes of a manufacturing business.

    (2) Notwithstanding the fact that a food is specified in Column 2 of Schedule 1, it will only be treated as a specified honey product for the purpose of these Regulations - 

(i) if it meets the relevant specifications contained in Schedule 2 as read with the notes relating to that Schedule, and

(ii) there has not been added to it any other ingredient and it is as far as possible free from organic or inorganic matters foreign to its composition.

    (3) Any other expression used in both these Regulations and in Directive 2001/110 has the same meaning in these Regulations as in that Directive.

Reserved descriptions
     3. No person shall sell to the ultimate consumer or to a catering establishment any food with a label, whether or not attached to or printed on the wrapper or container, which bears, comprises or includes any reserved description or any derivative thereof or any word or description substantially similar thereto unless - 

(a) such food is the specified honey product to which the reserved description relates;

(b) such description, derivative or word is used in such a context as to indicate explicitly or by clear implication that the substance to which it relates is only an ingredient of that food;

(c) such description, derivative or word is used in such a context as to indicate explicitly or by clear implication that such food is not and does not contain a specified honey product.

Labelling and description of specified honey products
     4.  - (1) Without prejudice to the generality of Part II of the 1996 Regulations, no person shall sell to the ultimate consumer or to a catering establishment any specified honey product unless it is marked or labelled with the following particulars  - 

(a) a reserved description of the product;

(b) in the case of baker's honey the words "intended for cooking only" which words shall appear on the label in close proximity to the product name;

(c) the country or countries of origin where the honey has been harvested save that if the honey originates in more than one Member State or third country the country of origin may be replaced with one of the following as appropriate - 


(i) "blend of EC honeys",

(ii) "blend of non-EC honeys",

(iii) "blend of EC and non-EC honeys";

    (2) No person shall sell to the ultimate consumer or to a catering establishment any filtered honey or baker's honey which is marked or labelled with information relating to floral or vegetable origin, regional, territorial or topographical origin or specific quality criteria.

    (3) Where pursuant to note 2 of Schedule 1, the reserved description "honey" has been used in the product name of a compound foodstuff containing baker's honey, no person shall sell such a compound foodstuff unless the list of ingredients includes the term "baker's honey".

Sale of filtered honey or baker's honey in bulk containers or packs
     5.  - (1) No person shall sell any filtered honey or baker's honey in bulk containers or packs unless such bulk containers and packs are labelled with their respective reserved description of the product and any trade documents clearly indicate the reserved description of the product.

    (2) For the purpose of this paragraph trade documents includes all the documents relating to the sale, transportation, storage or delivery of the product.

Manner of marking or labelling
     6. Regulations 35, 36(1) and (5) and 38 of the 1996 Regulations (which relate to the manner of marking or labelling of food) shall apply to the particulars with which a specified honey product is required to be marked or labelled by regulations 4(1)(a) to (c) and (3) of these Regulations as if they were particulars with which a food is required to be marked or labelled by the 1996 Regulations.

Penalties and enforcement
     7.  - (1) Any person who contravenes regulations 3, 4 or 5 of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

    (2) Each food authority shall enforce and execute these Regulations in its area.

Defence in relation to exports
     8. In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove - 

(a) that the food in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed was intended for export to a country which has legislation analogous to these Regulations and that the food complies with that legislation; and

(b) in the case of export to an EEA State, that the legislation complies with the provisions of Directive 2001/110/EC.

Application of various provisions of the Act
     9. The following provisions of the Act shall apply for the purposes of these Regulations with the modification that any reference in those provisions to the Act or any Part thereof shall be construed as a reference to these Regulations - 

(a) section 2 (extended meaning of sale etc.);

(b) section 3 (presumptions that food is intended for human consumption);

(c) section 20 (offences due to fault of another person);

(d) section 21 (defence of due diligence), as it applies for the purposes of section 8, 14 or 15;

(e) section 22 (defence of publication in the course of a business);

(f) section 30(8) (which relates to documentary evidence);

(g) section 33(1) (obstruction etc. of officers);

(h) section 33(2), with the modification that the reference to "any such requirement as is mentioned in subsection (1)(b) above" shall be deemed to be a reference to any such requirement as is mentioned in section 33(1)(b) as applied by sub-paragraph (g);

(i) section 35(1) (punishment of offences), insofar as it relates to offences under section 33(1) as applied by sub-paragraph (g);

(j) section 35(2) and (3) insofar as it relates to offences under section 33(2) as applied by sub-paragraph (h);

(k) section 36 (offences by bodies corporate);

(l) section 44 (protection of officers acting in good faith).

Amendment and revocations
     10.  - (1) The Honey Regulations 1976[8], in so far as they apply to England, are revoked.

    (2) The following entries relating to the Honey Regulations 1976 shall (insofar as the following Regulations apply to England), be omitted  - 

(a) in the Food (Revision of Penalties) Regulations 1982[9], in Schedule 1;

(b) in the Food (Revision of Penalties) Regulations 1985[10], in Part I to Schedule1;

(c) in the Food Safety Act 1990 (Consequential Modifications) (England and Wales) Order 1990[11], in Part 1 to Schedule 1, Part I to Schedule 2, Part 1 to Schedule 3 and Schedules 6 and 12;

(d) in the Food Safety (Exports) Regulations 1991[12], in Part 1 to Schedule 1;

(e) in the Food (Forces Exemptions) (Revocations) Regulations 1992[13], in Part 1 to Schedule 1;

(f) in the Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995[14], in Schedule 9;

(g) in the Food Labelling Regulations 1996[15], in Schedule 9.

    (3) In the Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995, in so far as they apply to England, there shall be substituted for the reference to Directive 74/409/EEC in Schedule 6, a reference to Directive 2001/110/EC.

    (4) In the 1996 Regulations, in so far as they apply to England, Regulation 4(2)(c) is revoked.

Transitional provisions
     11. In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove that - 

(a) the food concerned was marked or labelled before 1st August 2004; and

(b) the matters constituting the alleged offence would not have constituted an offence under the Honey Regulations 1976 as they stood immediately before the coming into force of these Regulations.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Health


Melanie Johnson
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Health

29th August 2003

[2] Functions formerly exercisable by "the Ministers" (being, in relation to England and Wales and acting jointly, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretaries of State respectively concerned with health in England and food and health in Wales and, in relation to Scotland, the Secretary of State) are now exercisable in relation to England by the Secretary of State pursuant to paragraph 8 of Schedule 5 to the Food Standards Act 1999 (1999 c. 28), and paragraphs 12 and 21 of that Schedule amend respectively sections 17 and 48 of the Food Safety 1990 Act. Functions of "the Ministers" so far as exercisable in relation to Wales were transferred to the National Assembly for Wales by the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/672), as read with section 40(3) of the 1999 Act, and those functions so far as exercisable in relation to Scotland were transferred to the Scottish Ministers by section 53 of the Scotland Act 1998 (1998 c. 46), as read with section 40(2) of the 1999 Act. Regulation 13(4) of the Food Standards Act 1999 (Transitional and Consequential Provisions and Savings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/656) expressly authorises the Secretary of State to amend or revoke existing Regulations made or having effect as if made by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (whether with others or not) under the Food Safety Act 1990.back

[3] OJ No. L31, 1.2.2002, p.1.back

[4] OJ No. L10, 12.1.2002, p.47, as adopted by EEA Joint Committee Decision 99/2002.back

[5] OJ No. L1, 3.1.94, p.1.back

[6] OJ No. L1, 3.1.94, p.571.back

[7] S.I. 1996/1499; the relevant amending instrument is S.I. 1998/1398.back

[8] S.I. 1976/1832 as amended by S.I. 1990/2486, S.I. 1991/1476, S.I. 1992/2596 and SI. 1996/1499.back

[9] S.I. 1982/1727.back

[10] S.I. 1985/67.back

[11] S.I. 1990/2486.back

[12] S.I. 1991/1476.back

[13] S.I. 1992/2596.back

[14] S.I. 1995/3187.back

[15] S.I. 1996/1499.back

  Prepared 4 September 2003