The Honey Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

PART 1 N.I.Introduction

Citation and commencementN.I.

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Honey Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 and come into operation on 24th June 2015.

Definition of “honey” and different types of honeyN.I.

2.—(1) In these Regulations “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.

(2) In these Regulations—

“baker's honey” means honey that is suitable for industrial use or as an ingredient in another foodstuff which is then processed;

“blossom honey” and “nectar honey” mean honeys obtained from the nectar of plants;

“chunk honey” and “cut comb in honey” mean honeys which contain one or more pieces of comb honey;

“comb honey” means honey stored by bees in the cells of freshly built broodless combs or thin comb foundation sheets made solely of beeswax and sold in sealed whole combs or sections of such combs;

“drained honey” means honey obtained by draining de-capped broodless combs;

“extracted honey” means honey obtained by centrifuging de-capped broodless combs;

“filtered honey” means honey obtained by removing foreign inorganic or organic matters in such a way to result in the significant removal of pollen;

“honeydew honey” means honey obtained mainly from excretions of plant sucking insects (Hemiptera) on the living part of plants or secretions of living parts of plants;

“pressed honey” means honey obtained by pressing broodless combs with or without the application of moderate heat not exceeding 45° Celsius.

General interpretationN.I.

3.—(1) In these Regulations—

“bulk containers” has the same meaning as in Article 3 of the Honey Directive;

“FIC” means Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004 [F1as last amended by Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 of the European Parliament and of the Council] M1;

“the Honey Directive” means Council Directive 2001/110/EC relating to honey [F2as last amended by Directive 2014/63/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council] M2;

“ingredient” has the meaning given in Article 2(2)(f) of FIC, as read with Article 2(5) of the Honey Directive;

“in trade” has the same meaning as in the Honey Directive;

“label” has the meaning given in Article 2(2)(i) of FIC;

“the Order” means the Food Safety (Northern Ireland) Order 1991;

“packs” has the same meaning as in Article 3 of the Honey Directive;

“trade documents” has the same meaning as in Article 3 of the Honey Directive;

“specific quality criteria” has the same meaning as in the third indented paragraph of paragraph (b) of the second sub-paragraph of point 2 of Article 2 of the Honey Directive.

(2) Any other expression used in both these Regulations and in the Honey Directive has the same meaning in these Regulations as in that Directive.

Limited scope of specified provisionsN.I.

4.—(1) The following provisions only apply in relation to a product intended for supply to a final consumer or mass caterer—

(a)Part 2, except for regulations 14(4) and 15(4) and (5);

(b)regulation 16(1) and (2);

(c)Part 4.

(2) Regulation 16(3) and (4) only apply where the products intended for human consumption specified in those paragraphs (the products to which honey is added as an ingredient) are intended for supply to a final consumer or mass caterer.

(3) In this regulation—

“final consumer” has the meaning given in point 18 of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety;

“mass caterer” has the meaning given in Article 2(2)(d) of FIC.

Application of requirements relating to product namesN.I.

5.  Where two or more provisions of these Regulations apply in determining the name to be used in respect of a particular honey, a person trading in that honey must use a name or combination name which complies with the requirements of each of those provisions.