Minutus

| Consumers are getting screwed. Whenever it relies on some political
| body for justice in today's world they wind up losing. The justice
| system should be renamed to "the dependent on big money justice
| system". F.
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http://www.nutraingredients.com/news/ng ... gxagwnympq
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| Supplement directive is valid, surprise court decision
|
| 12/07/2005 - The European food supplements directive is valid,
| decided a European court ruling today, ending months of uncertainty
| for much of the region's supplements industry, and disappointing those
| behind a major effort to overturn the law, reports Dominique Patton.
|
| The decision this morning came as a surprise after the advocate
| general on the case indicated in April that the directive should be
| considered invalid as it flouted principles of community law.
|
| Most European court case rulings follow the opinion of the advocate
| general.
|
| However the EU directive will now go ahead, scheduled for
| implementation next month. It will restrict all vitamin and mineral
| supplement ingredients to those on an approved list.
|
| For some, the laws will guarantee a new freedom to market food
| supplements across European borders and in countries where supplements
| have not been recognized as a food category. These more restrictive
| markets, like Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic and Poland, have been
| keenly awaiting the directive.
|
| In other markets however, particularly the more liberal UK, Ireland
| and Netherlands, the directive is likely to see a slimmer choice of
| products on the shelves.
|
| The UK's Health Food Manufacturers Association (HFMA) and the National
| Association of Health food Stores (NAHS), responsible for a joint case
| against the Commission, say the directive threatens up to 5,000
| commonly consumed products on sale in the UK because they contain more
| than 200 nutrients not on the directive's `positive' list of permitted
| substances.
|
| The trade bodies have today asked the British prime minister to
| intervene in Europe following their defeat.
|
| "We're extremely disappointed with today's verdict," said David Adams,
| director of HFMA.
|
| "We call on the prime minister, who currently holds the EU presidency,
| to deliver now on his stated commitments and go to Brussels to get the
| legislation rewritten in such a way that the UK is allowed to permit
| onto its national market products, which otherwise lie outside its
| restrictive scope."
|
| Lawyers for the HFMA and the NAHS argued at the European Court of
| Justice in January that the directive would impose an unnecessary
| burden on British business and there were no reasons to believe it was
| necessary to protect consumers' welfare.
|
| They also said the directive violated the central community principle
| of subsidiarity, meaning decisions should be taken at the lowest
| practical level - in this case by competent authorities in the UK -
| and was an unlawful restriction on the freedom to trade.
|
| Yet the ECJ said that the postivie list system "is appropriate for
| securing the free movement of food supplements and ensuring the
| protection of human health".
|
| The regulatory costs required to gain permission for a nutrient not on
| the current positive list, as well as other implied by the directive,
| are expected to hit many smaller, more specialist supplement suppliers
| hardest.
|
| Associations for other parts of the European industry were happy with
| the decision however.
|
| Lorène Courrège, director of regulatory affairs at the European Health
| Product Manufacturers' association (EHPM), said the decision ends a
| real concern in more restrictive markets that if the directive was
| annulled, supplement makers would have to face the previous situation
| of vitamins and minerals being regulated under medicines law.
|
| Patrick Coppens, secretary general of the ERNA, told
| NutraIngredients.com: "It lays down the principle of risk assessment
| to regulate supplements. We are quite relieved that the court did not
| annul the directive. This would have put harmonization back two to
| three years."
|
| Correge added: "We are now looking ahead to the next stage, which will
| be a key priority for us - the setting of maximum levels. This will
| shape the market."
|
| The Commission has said it will come up with a proposal for maximum
| permitted levels for vitamins and minerals in 2006 with a view to
| adopting these as part of the directive by 2007.
|
| Meanwhile France has still not implemented the 2002 directive into its
| national laws and could face action by the Commission.