Food-contact materials compliance (Wales): 2012 Regulations enforced by councils, port health authorities and the Food Standards Agency
What a business placing food-contact paper, board or other materials on the market in Wales must do under the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Wales) Regulations 2012 and assimilated Regulation (EC) 1935/2004, who enforces it, and the criminal penalties.
If you make, import or sell materials and articles that are meant to touch food in Wales, you must meet the Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Wales) Regulations 2012 (WSI 2012/2705). They make it a criminal offence to breach the main rules in assimilated Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004, the good manufacturing practice regulation (Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006) and the specific rules for plastics, ceramics, regenerated cellulose film, epoxy derivatives, bisphenol A in coatings and vinyl chloride. The Regulations apply in relation to Wales.
For a paper mill or converter this matters because cartons, wrap, cups, baking paper and food-packaging board are all food-contact materials. Paper and board have no specific measure of their own in the Regulations, so the general rules apply: your product must be safe, correctly marked, traceable and made to good manufacturing practice. If you coat, laminate or print on the board, the plastic layers, lacquers, epoxy coatings and inks bring their own rules with them.
- Statutory source
- Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (Wales) Regulations 2012 (WSI 2012/2705), in force since 20 November 2012
- Who must comply
- Anyone who places a food-contact material or article on the market in Wales (regulation 4(1))
- Using them in business
- Anyone who uses one in business to store, prepare, package, sell or serve food (regulation 4(1))
- Enforced by
- Each food authority (the local council) in its area
- Port health
- Each port health authority in its district
- Also enforced by
- The Food Standards Agency (FSA) may enforce declarations of compliance and traceability (Articles 16(1) and 17(2) of Regulation 1935/2004)
- Main offences
- Breaches of the safety, labelling, traceability and good manufacturing practice rules
- Material-specific offences
- Breaches of the plastics, epoxy and BPA-coating rules
- Penalty on conviction on indictment
- A fine, or imprisonment for up to two years, or both (regulation 19(5)(a)(i))
- Penalty on summary conviction
- A fine (the Regulations set no maximum figure) (regulation 19(5)(a)(ii))
- Obstructing an officer or refusing information
- Summary offence only, fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale (regulation 19(2), (3), (5)(b))
- Time limit for prosecution
- Three years from the offence or one year from its discovery by the prosecutor, whichever is earlier (regulation 23)
- Defence
- Taking all reasonable precautions and exercising all due diligence (regulation 24)
What you must do
- Make it safe. Manufacture materials and articles to good manufacturing practice so that, in normal or foreseeable use, they do not transfer constituents to food in quantities that could endanger health, change the food's composition unacceptably or spoil its taste, smell or appearance (Article 3(1) of Regulation 1935/2004). Regulation 4(1) prohibits placing on the market, or using in a food business, a material that fails this test, and contravening it is an offence under regulation 4(3).
- Mark it. Materials not yet in contact with food must carry the words "for food contact", a specific use indication (such as "soup spoon") or the glass-and-fork symbol, any special instructions for safe use, your name or trade name and address, and marking or documents that let the item be traced. The "for food contact" wording is not needed where the item is obviously meant for food, such as a drinking cup. Labelling and advertising must not mislead (Articles 3(2) and 15; prohibited by regulation 4(2), offence under regulation 4(3)).
- Be able to trace it. Keep systems that identify the businesses you buy materials and substances from and the businesses you supply, and give that information to the authority on request (Article 17(2); offence under regulation 4(3)).
- Work to good manufacturing practice. Run an effective quality control system, keep documentation on specifications, manufacturing formulae, processing and quality-control results, and make it available to the council on request (Articles 4, 6 and 7 of Regulation 2023/2006; offence under regulation 5). Printing inks on the non-food side must be formulated and applied so that substances do not transfer to the food side by set-off in the stack or reel or through the board.
- Check the coatings. Any plastic layer must meet Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 as assimilated, including the written declaration of compliance that must be available at marketing stages other than retail (Article 15 and Annex IV) (regulation 14). Varnishes and coatings must meet the bisphenol A rules in Regulation 2018/213 (regulation 17B). Epoxy derivatives are restricted by Regulation 1895/2005 (regulation 16). Materials made with vinyl chloride polymers must not contain more than 1 mg of vinyl chloride monomer per kg of material, or transfer more than 0.01 mg per kg of food (regulation 18).
- Keep evidence. A written declaration of compliance is required by law only where a specific measure applies, such as plastics, ceramics or regenerated cellulose film. For plain paper and board there is no statutory form, but food businesses are told to ask their suppliers for one, so expect to supply a signed statement of compliance with your documentation behind it.
New substances and authorisation
Substances used in plastics, active and intelligent materials, recycled plastic processes and regenerated cellulose film must be authorised on the Great Britain lists before you use them. Applications go through the Food Standards Agency's regulated products application portal and there is no application fee. Plain paper and board need no substance authorisation.
Enforcement and sampling
The main offences are non-compliant materials (Article 3(1)), misleading or missing labelling (Articles 3(2), 15), no traceability (Article 17(2)) and breaching good manufacturing practice (Article 4 of Regulation 2023/2006).
The council enforces good manufacturing practice and these Regulations themselves.
Council and port health officers can carry out documentary checks, take samples and serve enforcement notices. A sample taken for analysis is divided into three parts, and if there is a prosecution a retained part can go to the Government Chemist (regulations 25 and 26). If a company commits an offence with the consent, connivance or neglect of a director, manager or secretary, that individual can be prosecuted as well as the company (regulation 21). If your offence was caused by another person's act or default, that person can be prosecuted too (regulation 22).
Due diligence defence. You have a defence if you took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence. If you neither imported nor prepared the material, you can rely on checking it yourself or reasonably relying on your supplier's checks, but you must serve written notice naming the other person at least seven clear days before the hearing (regulation 24).
Bisphenol A
The European Union's 2024 ban on bisphenol A in food-contact materials does not apply in Great Britain, which includes Wales. The Food Standards Agency has said it intends to introduce restrictions, subject to the legislative process, and Food Standards Scotland reported on 23 June 2026 that the legal position in Great Britain is unchanged until domestic legislation is introduced. If you also sell into Northern Ireland, the EU ban does apply to the products you place on that market.