BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Court of Justice has upheld the controversial Food Supplements Directive, which seeks to outlaw popular vitamin and mineral supplements if they are found to affect the safety of consumers. This decision is a surprising U-turn on a previous ruling by its own Advocate-General who had said that the directive was against basic EU principles.
The ruling is a body blow to the £300 million natural remedy industry, which thrives in Britain. The British health food chains had contested the directive by saying that it does not make sense for them to spend money in getting approval for products which they have been selling for years and which already have a considerable share of the market.
They feel that if the directive is ratified then small suppliers will be hard hit and some businesses will be forced to declare bankruptcy. The British Health Food Manufacturers’ Association supported this claim. However, these arguments did not find any favor with the European Court of Justice, which said that a 'Positive List' as proposed by the directive would be beneficial to consumers, as the quality of the products would be certified and the safety of consumers would be ensured.
The Directive on food supplements was introduced as a measure in June 2002. The directive sought to create a 'positive list' of vitamins and minerals, which could be used in food supplements. The European Commission sponsored this directive in the hope that the EU market would be open and free for the smooth passage of food supplements from one country to another without being impeded by existing laws in that country.
The measure was also meant to stabilize and harmonize the EU food supplement market. The directive received wide support across the industry, but some UK consumers and retailer associations took umbrage at certain provisions in the directive and took the issue to the UK courts, which referred the whole matter to the European Court of Justice.
In finding for the European Commission, the ECJ ruled that the directive was based on the Article 95 of the EU Treaty and in no way contradicted any feature of the said article. The court also ruled that any substance would only be banned "on the basis of a full risk assessment, established on the basis of the most reliable scientific data."
Commenting on the ruling, Markos Kyprianou, the EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, said that the commission would take into account the court's judgment, "This is a Directive designed to open the internal market and boost growth, while ensuring a high level of protection of public health. With these dual goals in mind, we will look at the implementation of the Directive," he said.
Reacting to the ECJ ruling, UK Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said that the government's aim had always been to ensure the safety of food supplements and support consumer choices, "We are concerned that some of the provisions in the Directive could be unduly burdensome. We understand the difficulties that industry and small businesses, in particular, have faced and we will continue to work closely with them to resolve the problems," she commented.
The Food Supplements Directive will come into force across the EU from 1 August 2005.
