RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.95.152
12May1995
ORGANIZATION
(95-1251)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: HONG KONG
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Department ofHealth
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Prepackaged food
5. Titleandnumber ofpages ofthenotified document: Proposed Amendments totheFood
andDrugs (Composition andLabelling) Regulations (2pages).
6. Description ofcontent: Note: Item(b)below isnotified under theSPSAgreement
Themain proposals are:
(a) Torequire adeclaration inpercentage byweight ofanyingredient ofthefood
where itslabelling places special emphasis onthepresence orotherwise ofthat
ingredient(s).
(b) Tointroduce arequirement toindicate "Use by"dates forthose pre-packaged
foods which, from themicrobiological point ofview, arehighly perishable and
aretherefore likely after ashort period toconstitute animmediate danger to
human health.
(c) Toremove theexemption toindicate minimum durability forfoodreasonably
expected tolastformore than 18months orwhich isdeep frozen. The
acceptable wording ofbestbefore datewillalsobestandardized as"Best before"
tobefollowed byadate.
(d) Torequire foodwhich hasbeenirradiated tobesuitably labelled.
(e) Toprovide acomposition requirement forskimmed andsemi-skimmed milk.
./.G/TBT/Notif.95.152
Page2
7. Objective andrationale: Toupdate theRegulations inthelight ofinternational
developments. Tostrengthen consumer protection.
Aninternational standard doesnotexist[].
Ifaninternational standard exists, whenever possible, identify deviations:
Theproposals arebased primarily ontheCodex General Standard forthe
Labelling ofPrepackaged Foods. Inaddition, anewrequirement willbe
introduced forthose prepackaged foods which, fromthemicrobiological point of
view, arehighly perishable andaretherefore likely after ashort period to
constitute animmediate danger tohuman health.
8. Relevant documents: Theproposed amendments willbepublished intheGovernment
Gazette ofHong Kong upon enactment.
9. Proposed dateofadoption andentry intoforce: Tobeenacted inJuly1995, afterwhich
anine-month toone-year grace period willbegiven. Tocome intoforce inmid-1996.
10. Final dateforcomments: 8June1995
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point []oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body:
Department ofHealth, 18thFloor, WuChung House
WanChai, Hong Kong (Attn: Hygiene Division)
FAX: 85228933547