Newly published R. 3337 draft labelling regulations

The correct version of the Draft Labelling Regulations has been published: R. 3337. This comes more than two months after the incorrect version of the draft (R. 2986) was published in January 2023, an unsigned copy was published on 14 April 2023 (R. 3287), and the incorrect regulation number awarded on 21 April 2023 (R. 3320). Note that the new, correct version is named R. 3337.

Timeline of the South African labelling regulations

The past:

The current regulations (R. 146) were published in 2010. All of the claims included in the drafts leading up to this document were excluded from the final version, except for nutrient content claims. So when R. 429 was published in 2014, it suggested the inclusion of multiple claims, as well as a number of other interesting additions.

The present:

The new draft (R. 3337) is vastly different to its predecessor (R. 429) in some aspects. It seems to have ‘grown’ rather significantly, with an additional 10 regulations compared to R. 429, and 22 more than R. 146, as well as numerous annexures.

The draft is made up of different sections that are similar to what was covered in R. 429.

The ‘General Provisions’ section includes subsections on presentation, letter sizes, product name, country of origin, date marking, prohibited statements and negative claims.

The ‘Special Provisions’ section includes ingredient list requirements, bulk stock, small packages, pictorial representations, allergens, misleading descriptions, frozen foodstuffs, vegetarian claims and nutritional information.

In the ‘General Information on Claims’ section you will find enrichment of foods, nutrient profiling models, front-of-pack labelling and other claims, while the ‘Nutrition Claims’ section includes nutrient content claims, ingredient content claims and glycaemic index and load claims. The last section is ‘Health Claims’.

The regulations also refer to the Annexures – of which there are 10, following on directly from the regulations, in the same document – and to the Guidelines (15 of them); these are released in a separate document (not printed in the Government Gazette). Both the Annexures and Guidelines are essential to comprehensively interpret and implement the regulations.

The future:

After the extended deadline for comments (21 September 2023), the Department of Health Food Control will work through all the comments submitted by the public, make the appropriate amendments and then publish the final regulation. There is no indication of how long this process will take.

Our shared goal is to ensure that in the end, the most appropriate food labelling regulations are published.