Guidance to support the implementation of the Food (Promotion and Placement) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 has been published.
The Food (Promotion and Placement) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 will come into force on 1 October 2026.
Building on material published in England and Wales the guidance has been developed with input from a range of stakeholders to support effective implementation of the regulations.
Regulations will make it easier for people to make healthier food choices by:
- targeting food categories that are significant contributors of calories, fat and sugar to the Scottish diet and are the food categories of ‘most concern to childhood obesity’ as described in the UK-wide reformulation programmes;
- restricting promotions of pre-packed food and drink products within targeted food categories that are HFSS;
- restricting certain price promotions of targeted HFSS foods, such as multi-buy offers (for example buy one get one free) and free refills of soft drinks with added sugar; and
- restricting the placement of targeted HFSS foods in prominent locations in store when retail stores are over 185.8 square metres (or 2,000 square feet) and equivalent key locations online.
These restrictions apply to medium and large businesses (with 50 employees or more) which are a ‘qualifying business’ as described in the regulations.
Local authorities are responsible for enforcing the regulations using powers in the regulations, the Food Safety Act 1990 and the Food (Scotland) Act 2015.
The guidance can be found here – Food (Promotion and Placement) (Scotland) Regulations 2025: implementation guidance – gov.scot
