Consultation outcome

Government response

Updated 5 February 2019

The government is making every effort to ensure that as we leave the EU, we have a deal in place for our future economic partnership.

If, however, we leave without a deal, we need to be in a position to ensure that consumers continue to have the same protections as they do now, and that businesses are able to continue to supply quality food as they do now.

The summary of the consultation responses shows that there is a broad consensus that, for the necessary food labelling changes in the event of no deal, the following actions should be taken:

• the government should allow a transition period, where possible, so that businesses can manage as smoothly as possible the necessary changes to labelling information
• this period should be between 6 and 24 months
• there should also be a provision in place to allow those foods that are already legally on the market to be sold through until stocks of the foods are exhausted

In arriving at a final decision, we will take into account a number of factors:

• the straightforward costs of re-designing and re-printing labels to bring the food into compliance with the new requirements, which we know may be mitigated where businesses are able to plan and manage the transition over a period of time
• the fact that many food businesses both in the UK and in the remaining countries of the EU (EU27) will be trying to make these changes within the same short time-period, around and immediately following 29 March - this will inevitably lead to some pinch-points on suppliers of, for example, labelling and printing stocks, as well as design and artwork professionals
• there will be other changes to food labels necessary within the same time-period, including labelling of organic food, foods of protected geographical origin (GI), and specific marketing requirements for foods of animal origin - those businesses who are exposed to more than one, and sometimes all of these changes, will need sufficient time to manage these multiple changes efficiently
• the fact that, owing to the complexities of the negotiations, we have not been able to offer certainty to businesses until a late stage in Brexit preparations - this will impact on businesses’ ability to manage changes to labels efficiently
• consumer interests are currently effectively protected by harmonised EU food information regulations - we are carrying these regulations over into UK regulations as part of no deal Brexit preparations - therefore the risk that consumer interests will be compromised over the short term by allowing labels to remain as they are is judged to be low

There will be more information on the exact length of the transition period as part of broader Defra communications on post Brexit transition periods.