Vietnam Sanitary and Phytosanitary Notification Authority and Enquiry Point

To  protect  human  safety  and  health,  Food  Standards  Australia New Zealand  (FSANZ) has approved  -  as an interim emergency measure -  an amendment to  the  Australia  New  Zealand  Food  Standards  Code  to  prohibit  the  retail  sale  of  foods  in which  total  caffeine is  present in  a  concentration  of  5%  or  more  (if  the  food is  a  solid  or semi-solid food) or 1% or more (if the food is a liquid food). 
This  decision  followed  a  recent  death  in  Australia  caused  by  ingestion  of  pure  or  highly concentrated caffeine powder. The decision is based on a risk assessment that confirmed that  pure  and  highly  concentrated  caffeine  food  products  sold  at  retail  directly  to consumers  pose  an  immediate  and  acute  health  and  safety  risk.  The  ingestion  of  small amounts  of  pure  and  highly  concentrated  caffeinated  substances  can  result  in  death  or severe health effects. 
This interim measure comes into force in December 2019. 
FSANZ will review this interim emergency measure and decide within 12 months whether to affirm, amend or repeal the measure, taking into account comments by WTO members received as a result of this notification.
New  Zealand is  notifying  this  interim  measure  under  both  TBT  and  SPS  Agreements  as caffeine cannot be considered to be an additive for the purposes of the SPS Agreement in relation  to  all  food  stuffs  -  such  as  pure  caffeine  products  in  which  it  is  the  primary ingredient. The latter would be covered the TBT Agreement (and not the SPS Agreement).