Regulatory approach
The Food Standards Agency has a statutory objective to protect public health and consumers' other interests in relation to food and drink. However, we are aware that excessive or unclear regulations can place a burden on business, the public and third sectors and so hinder effective delivery of the intended benefits.
We implement regulations using our Framework for Regulatory Decision Making, which sets out the factors the FSA considers when deciding on regulatory intervention and the different options available. We are evaluating our performance against this framework and progress towards being a world class regulator – more details can be found below.
Simplification programme
The FSA's rolling simplification programme is about making regulations easier for business, the public sector and the third sector (such as charity and voluntary organisations) to understand and comply with, without compromising public health protection or consumers' other interests. We published our fourth report on this rolling simplification programme on 14 December 2008. The Simplification Report and Plan 2009/10 includes progress on helping businesses, reducing administrative burdens in the private sector, and working in Europe.
Reduction of administrative burdens
As part of the FSA's simplification programme we are working to reduce the cost to business of the paperwork and information requests which result from our regulations. Chapter 4 of the FSA’s Simplification Report and Plan 2009/10 reports on progress.
Principles of good regulation
Regulatory framework
The FSA has been considering how to evaluate its performance against the Framework for Regulatory Decision Making. Criteria have been developed to measure how well the Agency is performing against them in order to improve our end to end regulatory performance. Initiatives include FSA getting a better understanding of the practicalities of running a food business through a programme of secondments. If you are a business interested in hosting a secondment please get in contact with Judith Taylor judith.taylor@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk.
Compliance Code
The Government's Statutory Code of Practice for Regulators (the Regulators’ Compliance Code) came into force in England on 6 April 2008. The Code seeks to embed a risk-based, proportionate, targeted approach to regulatory inspection and enforcement. The FSA has published a Statement of Compliance that we believe reflects how we comply with the Code.
Hampton Implementation Review
In the 2006 pre-budget report the Chancellor announced that the progress of the five major regulators (Food Standards Agency, HSE, Environment Agency, Office of Fair Trading and the Financial Services Authority) in implementing Hampton principles would be assessed by the Better Regulation Executive of the Department for Business and Regulatory Reform and the National Audit Office (NAO). The criteria for the review can be found on the NAO website. The report of the FSA's assessment was published in early 2008. Progress on implementing the recommendations can be found in the FSA’s Simplification Report and Plan 2009/10, published on 14 December 2009.
Related links
External links The Food Standards Agency has no responsibility for the content of external websites
Better Regulation Advisory Group
The Better Regulation Advisory Group (BRAG) was set up in 2006 to undertake independent external scrutiny and challenge of the Food Standard Agency's better regulation initiatives.
Impact Assessments
An Impact Assessment (IA) is a policy tool which assesses the impact in terms of costs, benefits and risks of an proposed regulation which could affect businesses, charities or the voluntary sector.
Reviews of FSA guidance and forms
Details of reviews of FSA guidance and forms.
Common commencement dates
Common Commencement Dates (CCDs) came from a recommendation of the Better Regulation Task Force (now the Better Regulation Commission), requiring Departments and Agencies to consolidate the commencement dates of new or amended regulation to either 6 April or 1 October.
A Framework for Policy Making in the FSA
The FSA’s Framework for Regulatory Decision Making, which we originally published in December 2006, has been revised in line with feedback from FSA policy makers and respondents to two public consultations. We are grateful to everyone who gave us feedback.
FSA's simplification programme
The FSA's rolling simplification programme is about making regulations easier for business, the public sector and the third sector (such as charity and voluntary organisations), to understand and comply with, without compromising public protection or consumer's other interests.