ACS calls on minister over final guidance of HFSS

Association of Convenience Stores today (22) called on a minister for not providing final guidance for HFSS rule as committed a few months ago.

Claiming that retailers have only a few months to prepare before HFSS hits the retail sector, ACS said in a tweet that Department of Health and Social Care minister Lord Kamall had promised the guidance on HFSS rules ‘imminently’.

“We still haven’t had it, and retailers have just a few months left to prepare,” said the tweet.

ACS’ tweet was aimed at Lord Kamall’s statement he made on Nov 24 last year in which he responded to concerns of ACS, Food and Drink Federation and British Retail Consortium (BRC) around HFSS rules with a promise that the final guidance will be published “as soon as possible”.

“Our intention is to provide a point of clarification to industry within the final published guidance which we are working to publish as soon as possible after these parliamentary debates, so watch this space and do challenge me if it does not happen imminently,” the minister said in the parliament.

The tweet comes a couple of days after ACS issued its recommendation to the Chancellor ahead of the Spring Statement in which it called on scrap upcoming HFSS regulations and instead crackdown on illicit tobacco and alcohol trade in a bid to support local shops.

Last week, ACS has also written to prime minister Boris Johnson demanding an urgent review of the introduction of location and promotional restrictions on HFSS products.

“…With only seven months left until the implementation of the biggest regulatory change to the sale of grocery products in England for a generation, there remains a huge amount of uncertainty for local shops, supermarkets and food suppliers,” the letter said.

“At present your officials cannot indicate to industry, including thousands of small local shop owners, a clear definition of the products impacted by the regulations or the promotional mechanism that can be used to sell them.”