The Fed calls on Government to engage retailers ahead of high-caffeine energy drinks ban for children

Hemanshu Patel, National President of the Fed

The Fed has called on Government to fully engage with retailers ahead of the ban on high-caffeine energy drinks for children under the age of 16 in England, from April next year, and help assist them with transition.

Last November, the Fed contributed to the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC’s) consultation on the proposals and said that many retailers already implemented voluntary restrictions for under-16s and said that a full legal ban could be unnecessary.

Commenting, Fed National President Hemanshu Patel said: “Many of our members already institute a voluntary ban on the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks for under-16s. Now that the full legal ban is in place, we urge DHSC and the Government to fully engage with members on this, as we do in other areas of regulation on their sales. This is something that the Scottish Government previously consulted on but opted instead for a self-regulatory approach, which has merits.

“This remains a challenging time for independent retailers, both because of rising costs, but also because of unprecedented regulatory change which imposes a big compliance challenge on our members and their staff. We will be communicating with members in England ahead of the April change and monitoring the ban once it takes effect in Spring next year.”