PRA propose amendments to government plans to restrict the promotion of food products

The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) has written to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) with concerns regarding proposed legislation on restrictions on the promotion of high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) products.

The PRA has proposed a series of amendments to the current legislation which will redress the significant harm these new onerous regulations would otherwise cause to forecourt retailers:

1. Clarify definitions of store entrances, checkouts and end of aisles and remove designated queuing areas from the regulations;
2. Exempt all stores under 3,000sqft from the location restrictions;
3. Exempt ‘symbol group’ retailers operated by and recognised as small business owners in other policy environments;
4. Introduce the regulations after April 2023 at the earliest.

The submission to the DHSC highlighted that the cost to comply with the legislation as it currently stands could be as high as £13,000 per store. Further, compliance would be hindered due to the limited number of store fitters across the country and the date of implementation of April 2022 is unlikely to be achieved. 

Brian Madderson, Chairman of the PRA, commented: “In future, the government needs to strengthen its collaboration between DHSC and BEIS and develop legislation that maintains clarity for businesses and enforcement officers. In drafting these regulations the DHSC has not grasped the business and commercial implications by not following the widely accepted definitions of small format retailers.”