judicial review of Infant Formula legislation
The Infant and Dietetic Foods Association
(IDFA), on behalf of baby milk manufacturers, were successful in
their High Court challenge against the government regarding the
implementation of new European legislation on infant and follow-on
formula. These regulations were intended to introduce stricter
controls on labelling and advertising of all types of formulae to
ensure that breastfeeding is not undermined by the marketing and
promotion of such products and to help parents and carers clearly
tell the difference between infant formula and follow-on
formula.
These new regulations came into force on 11
January 2008, but the labelling provisions were suspended in
England and Wales following a legal challenge brought by the IDFA
who argued that the Directive had been incorrectly transposed into
domestic law. The UK regulations stipulated that baby milk
companies needed to comply with the new labelling requirements with
immediate effect, whereas the IDFA argued that this date should be
31 December 2009.
The ruling means that the labelling aspects of
the regulations will come into force on 1 January 2010, along with
the new compositional rules. Until this date, manufacturers may
continue to produce (and retailers may continue to sell) infant and
follow-on formula bearing labels that comply with the previous
legislation. The judgment does not affect the rules relating to
advertising of infant and follow-on formula, which apply
immediately.
The government has been given leave to appeal. If it does not do
so, or if the appeal is unsuccessful, then the UK regulations will
need to be recast.
For further information see http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/feb/infantjr.
