Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations 1992
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
1992 No. 3145
FOOD
The Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations 1992
Made 10th December 1992
Laid before Parliament 11th December 1992
Coming into force 1st January 1993
The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Health and the Secretary of State for Wales, acting jointly, in relation to England and Wales, and the Secretary of State for Scotland in relation to Scotland, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 4(1), 6(4), 16(2), 17(1), 26(1)(a) and (3), 31 and 48(1) of the Food Safety Act 19901, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf; the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Secretary of State being Ministers designated2for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19723in relation to materials and articles in contact with food or drink or intended for such contact, acting jointly, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by the said section 2(2) and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf; and after consultation in accordance with section 48(4) of the Food Safety Act 1990 with such organisations as appear to them to be representative of interests substantially affected by the Regulations (in so far as the Regulations are made in exercise of the powers conferred by the said Act of 1990), hereby make the following Regulations:—
Title, commencement and extent
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations 1992 and shall come into force on 1st January 1993.
(2) These Regulations shall not extend to Northern Ireland.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
“the Act” means the Food Safety Act 1990;
“the 1987 Regulations” means the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations 19874;
“business” has the same meaning as it has in the Act;
“capable” means capable as established under regulation 6;
“the Directive” means Commission Directive (EEC) No. 90/128relating to plastics materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs5as amended6;
“food” has the same meaning as it has in the Act;
“human consumption” has the same meaning as it has in the Act;
“import” means import in the course of a business;
“monomer” means anything which is included for the purposes of the Directive among monomers and other starting substances;
“person charged” includes, in Scotland, the accused;
“plastic material or article” means anything which for the purposes of the Directive is included among those plastics materials and articles and parts thereof to which the Directive applies;
“preparation” has the same meaning as it has in the Act;
“sell” includes offer or expose for sale or have in possession for sale, and “sale” shall be construed accordingly.
(2) For the purposes of these Regulations the supply of any plastic material or article, otherwise than on sale, in the course of a business shall be deemed to be a sale of the plastic material or article.
(3) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation or Schedule shall unless the context otherwise requires be construed as a reference to the regulation or Schedule bearing that number in these Regulations.
Restriction on sale etc., and importation of plastic materials and articles
3.—(1) No person shall use any plastic material or article which does not comply with these Regulations in the course of a business in connection with the storage, preparation, packaging, sale or serving of food for human consumption.
(2) No person shall sell any plastic material or article which does not comply with these Regulations for the purpose of its being used in connection with the storage, preparation, packaging, sale or serving of food for human consumption.
(3) No person shall import from any place other than a member State of the European Economic Community any plastic material or article which does not comply with these Regulations for the purpose of its being used in connection with the storage, preparation, packaging, sale or serving of food for human consumption.
(4) In any proceedings for an offence under this regulation it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove that the plastic material or article in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed was intended for export and complied with the importing country’s domestic legislation relevant to the alleged offence.
Transfer of constituents
4.—(1) No plastic material or article shall be capable of transferring its constituents to food with which it may come into contact in quantities exceeding the appropriate limit provided that a plastic material or article shall not be considered capable of transferring its constituents to food with which it may come into contact, in quantities exceeding the appropriate limit, if the only food which that plastic material or article may come into contact with is a food or foods specified in the Table to Part III of Schedule 2 in relation to which no simulant is specified.
(2) For the purposes of this regulation and regulation 5(5) no simulant is specified in relation to a food specified in the Table to Part III of Schedule 2 where there is no ‘X’ placed in the column headed "Simulants to be used' opposite that food.
(3) For the purposes of this regulation the appropriate limit is—
(a)
(a) an overall migration limit of 60 milligrams of constituents released per kilogram of food in the case of any plastic material or article comprising—
(i) an article which is a container or is comparable to a container or which can be filled, with a capacity of not less than 500 millilitres and not more than 10 litres;
(ii) an article which can be filled and for which it is impracticable to estimate the surface area in contact with food;
(iii) a cap, gasket, stopper or similar device for sealing, and
(b)
(b) in the case of any other plastic material or article, an overall migration limit of 10 milligrams per square decimetre of the surface area of the plastic material or article.
Monomers
5.—(1) Subject to the following paragraphs of this regulation, no plastic material or article shall be manufactured with any monomer other than a monomer which is of good technical quality and is identified by PM/REF No. (if any), CASNo. (if any) and name respectively in columns 1, 2, 3 of the relevant fraction of Part I of Schedule 1 and used in accordance with the restrictions (if any) specified in the corresponding entry in column 4 thereof, and for the purposes of this regulation the relevant fraction of Part I comprises—
(a)
(a) in the case of a plastic material or article manufactured before 1st January 1997, Sections A and B of Part I, and
(b)
(b) in the case of a plastic material or article manufactured after 31st December 1996, Section A of Part I.
(2) Paragraph (1) of this regulation does not apply to plastic materials or articles comprising—
(a)
(a) surface coatings obtained from resinous or polymerized products in liquid, powder or dispersion form, including, but not limited to, varnishes, lacquers and paints;
(b)
(b) silicones;
(c)
(c) epoxy resins;
(d)
(d) products obtained by means of bacterial fermentation;
(e)
(e) adhesives and adhesion promoters;
(f)
(f) printing inks.
(3) Paragraph (1) of this regulation shall not be taken to prohibit the presence in any plastic material or article of any substance if the substance is a mixture of monomers of good technical quality identified in the relevant fraction of Part I of Schedule 1.
(4) Subject to the proviso in paragraph (5) of this regulation, where column 4 of the relevant fraction of Part I of Schedule 1 expresses a migration limit of mg/kg in relation to any monomer, no plastic material or article manufactured from that monomer shall be capable of transferring constituents of that monomer to food with which that plastic material or article may come into contact in quantities exceeding the appropriate limit, and for the purposes of this paragraph the appropriate limit is—
(a)
(a) in the case of any plastic material or article other than one specified in subparagraph (b) below, the number of milligrams expressed therein released per kilogram of food, and
(b)
(b) if the plastic material or article comprises—
(i) an article which is a container or is comparable to a container or which can be filled, with a capacity of not less than 500 millilitres and not more than 10 litres, or
(ii) sheet, film or other material which cannot be filled or for which it is impracticable to estimate the relationship between the surface area of that material and the quantity of food in contact with that surface area,
one sixth of the number of milligrams expressed therein per square decimetre of surface area of the plastic material or article.
(5) A plastic material or article manufactured from any monomer in respect of which column 4 of the relevant fraction of Part I of Schedule 1 expresses a migration limit of mg/kg shall not be considered capable of transferring constituents of that monomer to food with which that plastic material or article may come into contact in quantities exceeding the appropriate limit in paragraph (4) of this regulation if the only food which that plastic material or article may come into contact with is a food or foods specified in the Table to Part III of Schedule 2 in relation to which no simulant is specified.
(6) In any proceedings for an offence under regulation 3 comprising the manufacture of a plastic material or article with any monomer (whether or not of good technical quality) other than those...
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