Food Labelling, Unfair Contracts and Consumer Protection

Abstract

The EU has approved Regulation 1169/2011 that sets out mandatory labeling for foods and for alcoholic beverages. This law has augmented previous legislation and also prescribed country of origin labeling as compulsory. The UK government has refused to implement this legislation when it becomes effective in 2015 and instead opted for optional traffic signposting for food products to provide the farmers and retailers extra protection in devising their own alternatives to compulsory labeling. There is a heavy onus on the food sellers to adhere to the plank of legislation that protects the consumer from unfair practices. The European Parliament's recommendations that impacts on the food market is to augment its regulation by forming a new task force to monitor the food and retail sector in terms of compliance with the fair trade practices. There is an increasing focus on the food sector in the EU and there are efforts to streamline the diversity of national laws for the upcoming Single Market Act II that will be promulgated in 2015 to align the commercial outlets to harmonise into one framework of rules in governing the protection of the consumer.