Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Colours in Food (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 and shall come into operation on 1st April 2005.

Amendment of the Colours in Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

2.—(1) The Colours in Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996(4) shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) In paragraph (1) of regulation 2 (interpretation) in the definition of “Directive 95/45/EC”(5), for “and Directive 2001/50/EC” there shall be substituted –

• “Directive 2001/50/EC(6) and Directive 2004/47/EC(7)”.

(3) In regulation 13 (transitional provision and exemption) after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted –

“(1A) In any proceedings for an offence against these Regulations it shall be a defence to prove that –

(a)the colour or food which is the subject of the allegation was put on the market or labelled before 1st April 2005; and

(b)the matter constituting the offence would not have constituted an offence under these Regulations as they stood immediately before the coming into operation of the Colours in Food (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005.”.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations implement Commission Directive 2004/47/EC amending Directive 95/45/EC. They do so by further amending the Colours in Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996. The Regulations –

(a)provide amended purity criteria for mixed carotenes E160a(i) and beta carotene E160a(ii) (regulation 2(2));

(b)insert a transitional defence provision for products put on the market or labelled before 1st April 2005 which otherwise comply with the Colours in Food Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996, allowing current stocks to be exhausted (regulation 2(3)).