Food (Promotion and Placement) (Scotland) Regulations 2025: Fairer Scotland Duty assessment

Summary of aims and expected outcomes of regulations

The primary aim of this policy is to reduce the public health harms associated with the excess consumption of calories, fat, sugar and salt including the risks of developing obesity, type 2 diabetes, various types of cancer and other conditions such as cardiovascular disease. The regulations are part of a wide-ranging suite of actions to support healthier diets and healthy weight. This policy is also aimed at reducing diet-related health inequalities, including in relation to socioeconomic disadvantage.

The food environment and the options available and promoted to us shape our health. It is often skewed towards the promotion of less healthy food and drink, which can encourage people to purchase more than they need or intend and consume additional calories.

By restricting promotions on high fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) foods, the policy aim is to shift the balance of promotions towards healthier options, making it easier for people to reduce volume and impulse purchase of high fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) food and drink and make healthier choices. Evidence indicates that action to improve the food environment will contribute to improvements in population levels of healthy weight – in line with the priority set out in the Population Health Framework.

The Framework is based on five key interconnected prevention drivers of health and wellbeing:

• Prevention Focused System
• Social and Economic Factors
• Places and Communities
• Enabling Healthy Living
• Equitable Access to Health and Care

Restricting the promotions of less healthy food and drink has been identified as an early priority action under the Framework.

The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 provides the framework for clear, consistent and coherent future Scottish food policy including cross-public agency action.

Restricting the promotion of less healthy food and drink is a population level intervention and is expected to have a positive impact on public health across population groups. Focusing on transforming the food environment is more likely to help improve diet and weight and be more effective in reducing health inequality than only encouraging individual behaviour change.

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;
• restricting the placement of targeted HFSS foods in prominent locations in store and online.

Location restrictions - where a product can be displayed - will not apply to the following for practical considerations:

• specialist retailers (e.g. chocolatiers, confectioners, cake shops); and
• stores with a floor area of less than 185.8 m² (2,000 sq. ft).

The promotion and location restrictions (with the exception of the restriction on free refills of soft drinks with added sugar) will apply to businesses with 50 or more employees that offer prepacked targeted HFSS foods to the public, both in store and online (excluding out-of-home businesses such as restaurants, cafes and takeaways).

The restriction on free refills of soft drinks with added sugar will apply to business with 50 or more employees that offer such soft drinks for sale to the public (in store).

Where businesses operate under a franchise or franchise like agreement, the employees of the businesses operating under those agreements are treated as employees of the franchisor and not of separate businesses, for calculating whether the franchisor business has 50 or more employees.

Scottish Government plans for restriction of promotions align with equivalent policies to restrict promotion of less healthy food and drink in England and in Wales.