9. Can you lose the right to operate a food business?

Yes! One of the objectives of the Nutrition Base is to combat unfair competition and to improve food safety. Therefore, significant breaches of the relevant legislation can mean you lose your right to operate a food business.

• 9.1 How can you lose your right to operate a food business?
• 9.2 Disqualification by the courts - what happens?
• 9.3 Temporary suspension/withdrawal - what happens?

9.1 How can you lose your right to operate a food business?

You can lose your right to operate a food business in two ways:

1. The courts can suspend your right to operate a food business for a period of time
2. The Veterinary and Food Administration (Fødevarestyrelsen) can temporarily suspend your right to operate a food business.

In both situations you cannot operate a food business, i.e. for a period you are not entitled to be registered in the Nutrition Base.

REMEMBER:
If you are deleted from the Nutrition Base - irrespective of the reason - you cannot operate a food business any longer.

When the period of withdrawal of the right to operate a food business has elapsed, you can again be registered in the Nutrition Base.

9.2 Disqualification by the courts - what happens?

Register of significant breaches etc.

The authorities within food safety, deposits on packaging, occupational health and safety, taxes and duties, and the police regularly come on inspections and check whether you are complying with the rules.

If, during an inspection, they see that there are significant breaches of the legislation, these breaches will be collected in a register held by the Commerce and Companies Agency - unless the undertaking has issued a statement of exemption (see chapter 2).

The register is not public but you will be notified if something is registered about you. You can access the information registered on yourself and your own outlet at www.virk.dk/naeringsbasen by using your Digital Signature/NemID, or by writing to the Commerce and Companies Agency, Kampmannsgade 1, 1780 Copenhagen V, Denmark. You can also send an email to naeringsret@eogs.dk.

Consequences of significant breaches

If you have already committed one or more significant breaches, and if these have been entered in the register and during an inspection one of the authorities mentioned above sees yet another significant breach, the authority can initiate court proceedings to disqualify you from operating a food business. The same applies if the breach is very serious.

Only the courts can decide whether someone should be disqualified from operating a food business. If this happens, the court will also decide the length of time disqualification is to last. Disqualification must be for at least one year, but up to a maximum of five years.

9.3 Temporary suspension/withdrawal - what happens?

The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (Fødevarestyrelsen) can decide matters on temporary suspension/withdrawal of the right to continue operating, if:

1. During an inspection it is deemed that allowing the food business to continue its business would involve an imminent risk for food safety.

   Examples:

   Marketing or selling goods harmful to health, food not suitable for human consumption, contaminated food, etc.
   
   
2. The holder of the nutrition letter is flagrantly or repeatedly in breach of food legislation in such a way as to cause imminent risk that operation of the business will continue to be in breach of the food legislation.

   Examples:

   Serious cases of misinformation or deceit, e.g. fraudulent sell-by dates, sale of rotten food and similar.

What is a significant breach?

If you sell/serve food directly to consumers and are fined DKK 3,000 or more, this will be deemed a significant breach and will be notified to the register.

If you operate a wholesale business and you are fined DKK 5,000 or more, this will be deemed a serious breach.

The breach must be related to your food business and it must be connected to legislation on food, deposits on packaging, occupational health and safety, or taxes and duties.

Violation of the Danish Restaurant Act will be notified irrespective of the size of the fine.