Welcome to the Retail, Food & Hospitality Regulatory & EU round-up. Week ending 27 July 2025

This week’s regulatory developments in order of importance, so you can ensure you're up to date with the latest changes impacting your business. 

Retail, Food & Hospitality updates

Competition and Markets Authority act over failure to follow online reviews guidance: The CMA published new fake review guidance in April 2025 but provided a three month ‘grace period’ to allow businesses time to make changes to its systems and compliance programmes. Following the conclusion of this grace period, the CMA has undertaken an online review of more than 100 businesses with a key focus on whether those businesses have published policies prohibiting fake reviews and outlined how the business approach incentivised reviews (such as banning them or making it clear that they must be labelled and genuine). The CMA found over half of the websites failed to meet its guidelines and has written to the businesses concerned requesting that they review their use of online reviews in the light of the CMA guidance and explain what changes, if any, they have made, or are making, to comply with the law.

The CMA are hosting a webinar on 4^th September open to businesses and their legal representatives. View >

Government to retain UK single market act and commits to improve dialogue: The Department for Business and Trade has published its response to its consultation on the UK Internal Market Act intended to prevent regulatory divergence from causing technical barriers to trade within the UK internal market. DBT have concluded that retention of the Act is important to business and the economy but that dialogue with the UK country administrations around exceptions can be improved. View >

Dynamic pricing leads to pricing complaints being upheld by advertising watchdog: The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld two complaints regarding prices shown on the ‘We love holidays’ website being less than the actual price at which hotel and return flights were available. The ASA told the business to take steps to reduce the likelihood of consumers being misled, for example, by describing prices that were subject to change as “from” prices and stating when those prices were last updated. View >

Ruling that UK in breach of international convention on environmental justice: Friends of the Earth have highlighted a draft assessment, by the UN–backed Compliance Committee of the Aarhus convention, that concluded that the UK was in breach of the convention over lack of public participation when Brexit legislation was being drawn up. The convention guarantees the public three environmental rights – access to information, access to justice and of participation in environmental decision making. If approved by the treaty’s 47 member states at their next meeting in November the committee’s findings will become binding in international law requiring the UK to implement a clear, transparent and consistent framework for public engagement on environmental matters. View >

In a separate ruling highlighted by Client Earth the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has unanimously confirmed that big polluters must scale up their efforts to address climate change under international law. View >

EU updates

EU Commission issue call for evidence on environmental regulation simplification plans: The Commission is currently screening environmental laws to identify legislative acts with significant potential for

simplifying administrative tasks. The goal is not to lower the EU’s environmental objectives or the protection of human health granted by EU environmental laws, but to attain them more effectively without causing

avoidable costs to businesses (especially SMEs), public administrations and the public. Responses are required by 10^th September. View >

EU Regulations:

• On feed additives: Enterococcus faecium > Lentilactobacillus buchneri >
• Extending authorisation of plant protection products: ametoctradin, beauveria bassiana strains atcc 74040 and gha, buprofezin, clodinafop, copper compounds, cyflumetofen, daminozide, flupyradifurone, helicoverpa armigera nucleopolyhedrovirus, mandestrobin, mandipropamid, metam, pyraclostrobin, rescalure, spodoptera littoralis nucleopolyhedrovirus, streptomyces lydicus strain wyec 108, trichoderma asperellum strain t34 and trichoderma atroviride strain i-1237 >

European Food Safety Authority publish opinion on fluoride intakes: EFSA has re-assessed the potential risks to consumers from fluoride in drinking water, food, fluoridated table salt, and ingested fluoridated dental care products and concluded that with the current concentrations of fluoride in European drinking water, total fluoride exposure does not exceed the new safe and tolerable upper intake levels for almost all age groups and therefore does not pose a health concern. The one exception is for children aged 4-8 years who assuming typical fluoride concentrations in drinking water and with 100% ingestion of dental care products might experience mild tooth discoloration, but this is considered unlikely if children spit toothpaste out after brushing. View >

Developments to watch

Department for Business and Trade: Issue consultation in triennial review of Pubs Code Adjudicator – Responses required by 14^th August. View >

DEFRA: Publish update on ongoing avian flu outbreak. View >

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Publish update on Local Government reorganisation. View >

For your information

Non-food product safety alerts: Office for Product Safety and Standards > EU Safety Gate > US Consumer Product Safety Commission >

Food Standards Agency: National Food Crime Unit highlight a confiscation order issued in respect of £30k of skin on lamb / goat ‘smokies’. View >

US Food and Drugs Administration: Search for definition of ‘ultra-processed foods’ and welcome industry commitment to remove petroleum-based colours from food. View >