Food Law News - EU - 2001
FSA Letter, 23 January 2001
PARNUTS - Proposed Directive On Food Supplements
Further to FSA letters of 16 May, 7 July, 21 September and 24 October 2000 the letter provides an update on further discussions in Brussels.
A Council Working Group was held on January 22. The Swedish Chairman expects this group to meet again to complete its work on 8 February. A copy of the amended draft text (pdf format) under discussion is available (with draft amendments in bold). At this stage none of these draft amendments have been finally agreed in the group or adopted by the Commission. The key changes under discussion are:
- Arrangements for non-prepackaged products and products moving in the supply chain (Article 1). The draft text under discussion would prohibit sale of non prepackaged product to the ultimate consumer; as far as the FSA are aware there are no such sales in the UK.
- The scope of the proposal (Article 2). The draft amendments would apply the general provisions on labelling and notification (Articles 6, 7 and 10) to all food supplements, not just those containing vitamins and minerals. The Commission would be charged with reporting on the best way of controlling ingredients with nutritional or physiological effects, other than vitamins and minerals, within five years of adoption of the Directive.
- The basis for setting maximum limits (Recital 11 and Article 5). The draft text continues to take a safety based approach. There is still strong support in the group for a greater emphasis in the text on the need to take into account nutritional need.
The proposed positive lists (Annexes 1 and 2) were discussed briefly but no conclusions were drawn. The FSA will be pushing for a more substantive discussion of these lists at the next meeting.
The European Parliament is now expected to vote on its final position in February 2001.
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