# The Food Crime Officers (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2025, Regulation 25: Duties of the Director General on references under regulation 23 or complaints treated as having been referred under regulation 24


(1) The Director General must, in the case of every complaint referred to the Director General by the chief executive, or treated as having been referred under regulation 24, determine whether or not it is necessary for the complaint to be investigated.
(2) Where the Director General determines under this regulation that it is not necessary for a complaint to be investigated—
(a) in a case where the complaint is already being investigated by the chief executive on the chief executive’s own behalf (and notwithstanding the Director General’s determination), the Director General must refer the complaint back to the chief executive for the investigation to be completed;
(b) in any other case, the Director General may, if the Director General thinks fit, refer the complaint back to the chief executive to be dealt with by the chief executive in accordance with regulation 17.
(3) Where the Director General refers a complaint back under paragraph (2), the Director General must give a notification of the making of the reference back—
(a) to the complainant; and
(b) except in a case where it appears to the Director General that to do so might prejudice an investigation of the complaint (whether an existing investigation or a possible future one), to the person complained against (if any).

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/301/regulation/25 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/food-crime-officers-complaints-and-misconduct-regulations-2025/regulation-25
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.