• Business guidance

Guidance for regulated products applicants

Content: Business guidance

Published by:

  • Food Standards Scotland

File names and file types

Files within the dossier should be named logically. Further details are given within the checklists in the portal. This minimises the chance that key data is lost. Dossiers which do not clearly state each file’s role will take longer to assess. It is also important to cross reference files within the dossier where applicable and make supporting information clear. Only certain types of files can be uploaded. 

When completing a regulated products application, it is important to use the correct file names and upload your documentation using the correct file types suitable for the system.

File names

Files within the dossier should be named logically. Further details are given within the checklists in the portal. This minimises the chance that key data is lost. Dossiers which do not clearly state each file’s role will take longer to assess. It is also important to cross reference files within the dossier where applicable and make supporting information clear.

Make sure that file names do not include any of the following special characters:  

  • " quotation mark  
  • * asterisk  
  • : colon  
  • < less-than sign  
  • > greater-than sign  
  • ? question mark  
  • / forward slash  
  • \ back slash  
  • | vertical bar  
  • # hash  
  • % percent  

File types 

You can only upload the following file types:  

  • .ab1  
  • .asc  
  • .bam   
  • .csv  
  • .doc  
  • .docx  
  • .faa  
  • .fast5  
  • .fasta  
  • .fastq  
  • .ffn  
  • .fna,  
  • .frn  
  • .gff  
  • .gff3  
  • .hdf5  
  • .odf  
  • .pdf  
  • .ppt  
  • .pptx  
  • .r  
  • .sam  
  • .sas  
  • .tsv  
  • .txt  
  • .xls  
  • .xlsx  
  • .aln  
  • .bai  
  • .fa  
  • .fo  
  • .fq  
  • .gbk  

Any other file type, including zip files (which are not allowed for security reasons) and images, will not be saved. Only single files from the same source folder can be uploaded at a time.

Large file uploads

You can only upload a maximum of 100 files at one time and uploads should not exceed 200 MB in total. You may carry out multiple uploads.

If you have information that is not available in any of these formats or sizes, please contact FSA at regulatedproducts@food.gov.uk to discuss options.

This is particularly recommended for GM applicants before uploading their files.

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