Scottish HFSS promotion restrictions enter force

Scotland’s Food (Promotion and Placement) Regulations 2025 came into force on 1 October, changing how qualifying businesses can promote and position specified foods and drinks classified as high in fat, sugar, or salt.

The rules apply to prepacked products that fall within scheduled food categories and are classed as less healthy under the relevant UK Nutrient Profiling Model score. A product has to satisfy both tests before the promotion and placement restrictions apply.

Covered categories include products such as confectionery, cakes, biscuits, savoury snacks, breakfast cereals, pizzas, ready meals, potato products, and soft drinks with added sugar, although being part of one of those categories does not automatically bring every product into scope.

Qualifying businesses generally have 50 employees or more and sell specified foods to consumers in stores or online. Exemptions apply to certain organisations and business types, while the location provisions include a separate store-size threshold.

The regulations prohibit specified volume price promotions on food in scope. Multi-buy offers such as three for the price of two, fixed-price multiple purchases, and promotions describing an item or part of an item as free can no longer be used by qualifying businesses for covered products.

Free refills of specified sugar-sweetened drinks are also restricted. Meal deals and alcohol promotions sit outside the measures described in the Scottish Government’s consumer guidance, and the rules do not prevent covered products from being sold.

Placement restrictions apply to stores with at least 185.8 square metres, or 2,000 square feet, of relevant floor area where the other qualifying conditions are met. Specified products cannot be promoted in defined prominent locations such as entrances, checkouts, and aisle ends, with comparable restrictions applying to online shopping environments.

The retail obligations reach back into manufacturing because promotional mechanics shape production forecasts and product economics. Multi-buy activity can generate short periods of substantially higher demand, influencing batch sizes, packaging requirements, raw-material purchasing, labour planning, and factory schedules.

Removing those promotional mechanisms can change the volume profile attached to a particular SKU. A manufacturer may still produce exactly the same product, but the assumptions used when forecasting campaign volumes or negotiating annual retailer plans can change once certain promotional tools are no longer available.

Pack architecture also needs attention where promotional language is printed directly on packaging. Scottish implementation guidance states that qualifying businesses choosing to sell products carrying volume-promotion wording must make clear that the offer is not applicable or available where the regulation prohibits it.

That creates a practical issue for manufacturers supplying several UK markets from one packaging run. A nationally distributed pack can move through Scotland, England, and Wales, while the detailed rules applying to promotion and placement are not identical in every respect.

The Scottish guidance has been aligned with equivalent guidance elsewhere in Great Britain where possible, but it identifies differences around areas including on-pack promotions and aisle-end restrictions. Accurate market allocation and pack control therefore remain important even where the same formulation is sold across several jurisdictions.

Reformulation provides another route for some products. The restrictions depend partly on Nutrient Profiling Model scores, so changes to fat, sugar, salt, fibre, fruit, vegetable, or protein composition may alter whether an individual food is classed as less healthy.

Changing the score is not simply a labelling exercise. Sugar, fat, and salt affect flavour, structure, preservation, browning, water activity, texture, dough behaviour, and shelf life, meaning a reformulated product still has to survive processing, distribution, and consumer acceptance.

A bakery reducing sugar may need to compensate for changes in colour or moisture retention. Savoury foods can face different flavour and preservation requirements after salt reduction, while lower-fat formulations may require changes to emulsification, mouthfeel, or processing conditions.

The regulation therefore creates different responses across product categories. Some manufacturers may reformulate, while others may retain the existing formulation and adjust promotional planning, pack strategy, range architecture, or customer negotiations.

Location restrictions can also change the expected commercial performance of individual products. End-of-aisle, entrance, and checkout positions are used to generate additional purchases, and removing those placements from qualifying products alters one of the mechanisms used to support sales during a retail campaign.

Online rules extend the same principle into digital retail. Specified foods cannot receive certain prominent positioning on pages and interfaces covered by the regulations, so commercial planning has to account for both physical stores and e-commerce rather than treating the legislation solely as a shelf-layout issue.

Local authorities are responsible for enforcement and can use powers including compliance notices. Failure to comply can constitute an offence, placing responsibility on qualifying businesses to understand both the products and promotional practices within scope.

The first practical evidence of the regulation’s effect will emerge through changes in promotion frequency, sales mix, reformulation activity, and retailer ranging decisions. The rules do not remove HFSS products from Scottish retail, but they alter several of the commercial mechanisms previously used to sell them.