EU Food Supplements Directive legal challenge
Consumers, practitioners, retailers and innovative food supplement companies came together in 2003 under the umbrella of the
The case was brought initially in the High Court in
The Advocate General, Leendert Geelhoed, declared in his Opinion that the Directive was fundamentally flawed, and contravened EU law. He concluded:
“…that the Directive infringes the principle of proportionality, because basic principles of Community law, such as the requirements of legal protection, of legal certainty and of sound administration have not been properly taken into account. The Directive is, therefore, invalid.”
The European Court of Justice has now declared that the judgment, made by the thirteen Judges presiding over the case, will be handed down at
Executive director of the Alliance for Natural Health, Dr Robert Verkerk, commented:
“The judgement will hopefully give rise to an amendment to the Directive that will result in much greater clarity for consumers and manufacturers of food supplements across
The ruling will potentially have significant impacts on the parallel development of international guidelines for vitamin and mineral food supplements by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which are near finalisation. This body, composed of delegates from around 90 governments and 40 non-governmental organisations, will meet in
Since this Codex meeting occurs just before the date of the European Court ruling, the Alliance for Natural Health argues that it would be premature to finalise the Codex guidelines on vitamin and mineral food supplements before both the EU Food Supplements Directive is amended, and an improved system for risk assessment of nutrients is developed.
Dr Verkerk adds, drawing a further parallel with the Food Supplements Directive case:
“There is good evidence that in the effort to push through the Codex guidelines, procedural errors have again been made. Governments and regulators, as well as the many interests in this area, need to work together to put these right. There is a huge amount at stake for the future of natural healthcare.”
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CONTACT:
Dr Robert Verkerk, Executive Director,
Tel: +44 (0)1252 371 275
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.alliance-natural-health.org
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