What the England
restriction actually covers

The Environmental Protection (Plastic Plates etc. and Polystyrene
Containers etc.) (England) Regulations 2023, SI 2023 No. 982, restrict
businesses from supplying specified single use plastic items in the
course of business in England. Plates, bowls and trays sit within the
restricted categories, alongside other single use plastic foodware items
covered by the same instrument.

The restriction is aimed at the point where a business supplies these
items to the end consumer, whether that is a restaurant handing a plate
to a diner or a retailer selling them at point of sale for consumer use.
It is not a blanket ban on every movement of a restricted item through a
supply chain.

The business to business
exemption

This is the part of the regulations that matters most for an importer
rather than an end-of-chain retailer or food service business.
Government guidance on the restriction sets out a business to business
exemption: supply between businesses, where the item is going on to
further supply or use by another business rather than directly to the
end consumer, sits outside the restriction. Import and wholesale
distribution of these items into England, ahead of the point where a
food service or retail business supplies them on to a consumer, falls
within this exemption.

A separate, distinct exemption applies to pre-filled packaging, where
the item is filled with food before it is supplied. That exemption
addresses a different scenario and should not be assumed to cover empty
tableware supplied for later use.

What this means in practice is that Foliware supplying empty
tableware to a UK importer, and that importer supplying it on to a
distributor or a food service business, sits within the business to
business exemption at each of those stages. The point at which the
restriction actually bites is further down the chain, when a business
finally supplies the item to a consumer. Whether and how that final
point applies to any given item depends on how it is classified and used
at that stage, which is the responsibility of whichever business is
making that final supply, not something Foliware classifies on the
importer’s behalf.

UK food contact
materials requirements

Separately from the single use plastics restriction, any tableware
placed on the UK market has to meet the UK’s food contact materials
regulations. These are the UK’s own domestic requirements, and any
product intended to come into contact with food has to be assessed
against them before it reaches the UK market.

Foliware prepares a food contact declaration of compliance, supported
by laboratory test reports, for shipments going to the UK. This is
supplier-level documentation stating that the material has been assessed
as suitable for food contact use. It supports an importer’s own
compliance file; it is not, by itself, a statement that a given shipment
has been certified compliant by a UK regulator, and it does not replace
the importer’s own responsibility to confirm what their specific use
case requires.

What the importer is
responsible for

Three things sit on the importer’s side of a UK order, separate from
what Foliware supplies.

Confirming how the England single use plastics restriction applies to
your specific supply chain, particularly at the point where your
business, or your customer, supplies the item on to an end consumer, is
your responsibility. The business to business exemption covers import
and wholesale supply; it does not answer what happens at the final point
of sale, because that depends on how your business or your customer’s
business operates.

Confirming that the UK food contact materials position for your
specific product and use case is satisfied, using Foliware’s declaration
of compliance and test report support as part of that file, is also your
responsibility. A declaration of compliance is supporting evidence, not
a substitute for your own due diligence.

Confirming which UK nation your shipment is actually going to matters
more than it might seem. The England regulations discussed in this
article apply in relation to England only. If your shipment, or part of
it, is going to Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, do not assume the
England position applies. Each nation sets its own position on single
use plastics, and none of that is covered in this article. Confirm the
current position for the specific nation with the relevant regulator
before shipping there.

Documentation
that travels with a UK shipment

A commercial invoice and packing list travel with every shipment, as
with any Foliware export order. A food contact declaration of
compliance, supported by laboratory test reports, is prepared for
UK-bound shipments given the destination’s food contact materials
requirements. A certificate of origin is added where UK customs requests
proof of origin. None of this amounts to a statement that a shipment is
certified compliant with UK regulation; it is the documentation Foliware
supplies, alongside the confirmation steps that remain the importer’s
own responsibility.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• how Foliware
  supplies destination markets
• certifications and testing behind every
  export shipment
• how the Ireland
  lane differs now that the UK and EU are separate regimes

References