Do the HFSS Rules Apply in Scotland?

Not all businesses are within scope

The Food (Promotion and Placement) (Scotland) Regulations 2025 do not apply to all food businesses in Scotland. Application depends on whether the business meets the statutory criteria set out in the Regulations. The most significant of these criteria is an employee threshold. A floor area threshold also applies in relation to certain placement restrictions.

This page explains the general structure of how scope works under the Scottish HFSS regulatory framework. It does not determine whether the Regulations apply to any specific business. Application depends on the statutory criteria.

The employee threshold

The Regulations establish an employee threshold as a primary condition of application. Businesses below that threshold are generally outside scope.

The threshold is set within the statutory framework. Whether a particular business meets it depends on the relevant definition within the Regulations and how the business's staffing position sits against that definition. This page explains the structure of the threshold at a general level — application depends on the statutory criteria and the facts of the specific business.

Premises scope and floor area

Even where a business meets the employee threshold, the application of specific restrictions may depend on the nature and configuration of the premises. In particular, certain placement restrictions include a floor area criterion that affects whether those restrictions apply to smaller retail premises within an otherwise qualifying business.

The floor area threshold does not determine application overall — it applies specifically to defined elements of the placement restrictions. The structure of the framework therefore requires assessment against the statutory provisions as a whole rather than a single criterion in isolation.

Exemptions within the framework

The Regulations contain exemptions that may affect whether particular products, premises configurations, or types of retail activity fall within scope. The availability of an exemption depends on the wording of the Regulations and the facts of the specific situation.

This page does not interpret the exemptions for individual cases. Whether an exemption applies is a question that depends on the statutory provisions and the specific circumstances of the business concerned.

How scope questions commonly arise in practice

In practice, scope questions tend to arise where businesses are uncertain whether they meet the employee threshold, where premises operate across multiple sites with different configurations, or where retail formats do not fit straightforwardly within the categories addressed by the Regulations.

These questions are structural rather than operational. They turn on the definitions within the Regulations rather than on the type of food sold or the way in which promotions are described. The HFSS Regulations publication provides detailed commentary on how the scope provisions are structured and how they interact with the wider framework.

Related HFSS resources

Frequently asked questions