Abstract
In common with local government organisations across the world, local authorities in the UK have responsibility for promoting health. A key part of this function is the frontline enforcement activities of officers responsible for compliance with health and nutrition claims. This study identifies attitudes, values and practices of enforcers: namely trading standards and environmental health officers, when faced with the problem of non-compliance with the Regulation. Semi-structured interviews with frontline enforcers from local authority regulatory services to investigate challenges with the enforcement of Regulation (EC) 1924/2006. Twenty participants were interviewed; sixteen were based in North West England and two in the North and two in the South of England. The participants were selected for their specialist knowledge and experience of enforcement of nutrition and health claims. Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims presents particular challenges for enforcers seeking to apply an optimal strategy to flawed regulatory design. As with other regulations, when faced with non-compliance, enforcers, specifically trading standards and environmental health officers have a wide discretion to determine their response: ranging from the deterrent or accommodative styles of enforcement. The participants reported using advice rather than action and by doing so confronting their bifurcating identity of prosecutor and advisor. Enforcers used advice as a regulatory tool in enforcing the law relating to nutrition and health claims.
Highlights
Along with other market driven consumer protection in the EU and internationally[1], the aim of the Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims [2] is to ensure that consumers are provided with adequate and reliable information be able to make informed food choices [3]
A number of the trading standards officers among the sample population were identified by their trade body, the Trading Standards Institute and by each other as experts in health and nutrition claims rather than in many of the other areas of enforcement in which environmental health and trading standards officers are commonly involved
While the general direction of the work was influenced by the literature and the broader themes might be said to exist a priori, a number of more detailed and particular themes emerged as a result of the analysis of the interview data
Summary
Along with other market driven consumer protection in the EU and internationally[1], the aim of the Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims [2] (the Regulation) is to ensure that consumers are provided with adequate and reliable information be able to make informed food choices [3]. The Regulation defines a ‘nutrition claim’ as a claim that a food has particular beneficial nutrition properties such as ‘high in fibre’. A ‘health claim’ is a claim that health benefits can result from consuming a food, such as ‘helps build strong bones’. An ‘information asymmetry’ as defined by Stigler [4] exists between suppliers and consumers of food that justifies regulatory intervention[5]. This is because consumers are not well.
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