Resources to assist clients with their responsibilities towards checks and compliance. 

Start-ups and established clients are often unaware of the regulatory requirements their product labelling or packaging requires, how they would go about complying with legislation and who could assist them in their efforts.   In my experience, many clients have fallen short through agencies and designers who lacked the specific skills and legislative knowledge to advise and execute compliant packaging.  

THE RESOURCES SHOULD ASSIST CLIENTS WITH COMPLIANCE.     

• S.A. Product and Packaging Labelling Regulations
• Food Regulation 
  Facts SA – Food and Allergy Consulting and Testing
  Facts provide the analytical testing, nutritional, ingredients, allergens, warnings and regulations for food labelling. 
  www.factssa.com
• Alcohol Regulations  
  SA Regulations for wine and spirits are found on the SAWIS site for appraisal and study by both the client and designer. Front and back labels need to be submitted to the institution for approval before print.
  www.sawis.co.za/winelaw/southafrica.php
• Cosmetic Regulations 
  S.A. Standard Product and Packaging Labelling Regulations apply to cosmetics unless they fall into pharmaceutical categories, in which case Pharmaceutical Regulations apply and must be treated as such.

Product labels must contain the following information

• Name, trade name or description. 
• Name and complete address of manufacturer/packer, importer, country of origin of the imported food. 
• Net weight, number or volume of contents in metric units 
• Distinctive batch, lot or code number. 
• Month and year of manufacture and packaging. 
• Month and year by which the product is best consumed. 
• Information about pharmaceutical and industrial products must be in English. 
• If food products have been genetically modified (GM) this must be indicated on the label. 
• Include all warnings, allergens, additives or colourants.  
• All descriptive words must be cautiously chosen to ensure that no implied claims are inadvertently made and that descriptions are allowable in law as certain words and phrases are banned from product labels, such as "rich in", "excellent source of", and "enriched with".

The consequence of non-compliance.

Consumers and competitors are more often than not the first to call out brands for non-compliance, which can result in: 

NON-COMPLIANCE CONSEQUENCES

• Fines by retailers
• Removal of the product from retail shelves
• Extremely costly implications for redoing packaging design and printing
• Reputational damage