Directive 2002/46/EC - Food supplements

Dannyboy83

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32002L0046:EN:HTML

The directive was approved by the European Council on 27 September 2001 with Austria, Denmark and Greece voting against and Spain abstaining. All other member states voted in favour.

The UK minister who voted in favour was Melanie Johnson (Labour MP for Welwyn Hatfield) and the Irish minister who voted in favour was Tom Kitt (Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin South):

The directive was approved by the European Parliament on 13 March 2002

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This directive will essentially make most bodybuilding and 'health & vitamin' supplements unsaleable throughout the European Union.

Does anyone know the reasoning behind this directive?
This seems massively heavy handed/authoritarian.
To what extent will this directive go?


First, I utterly dislike 'nannying' and authoritarian restrictions such as this which regulate our choice as consumers.

Second, many of these products will continue to be manufactured and sold illegally, as has happened with Ephedrine.

Where is the sense in this?

Dinner

Maybe I've missed something, but this was approved 8 years ago, and according to The UK Food Standards Agency it was supposed to come into effect in 2005. (In Wales at least, I assume it would be similar for the rest of the EU)

Has something changed or have I missed something?

Dannyboy83

Dinner wrote: »

Maybe I've missed something, but this was approved 8 years ago, and according to The UK Food Standards Agency it was supposed to come into effect in 2005. (In Wales at least, I assume it would be similar for the rest of the EU)

Has something changed or have I missed something?

Parts of it have been implemented in Ireland, but only minor parts.
It's supposed to come into effect fully next year in the UK, which will mean Ireland also.

So all those Vitamin Shops and Here's Health shops you see around the place will be vacant within 10months.

We'll probably need to visit a GP for everything shortly.

Dannyboy83

There is a campaign website here:
http://www.consumersforhealthchoice.com/

Dinner

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

There is a campaign website here:
http://www.consumersforhealthchoice.com/

Is their whole campaign based on the phrase “taking into account” being mentioned in Article 5?

This Directive seems to standardise the permitted levels of vitamins and minerals in these supplements across the whole EU, rather than each country setting it individually (Thats based on my understanding of the CHC's explanation, at least). And the CHC campaign is based on the possibility that the levels may be reduced to be more restrictive than they currently are.

So far, has their been any indication that the levels will be reduced and are there many countries in the EU in which these supplements are already banned?

Dannyboy83

Dinner wrote: »

Is their whole campaign based on the phrase “taking into account” being mentioned in Article 5?

Honestly, I'm not sure.

This Directive seems to standardise the permitted levels of vitamins and minerals in these supplements across the whole EU, rather than each country setting it individually (Thats based on my understanding of the CHC's explanation, at least). And the CHC campaign is based on the possibility that the levels may be reduced to be more restrictive than they currently are.

Yes, you hit the nail on the head.
It appears to be a centralised setting/standardisation, which is rather unconventional I would have thought.
Granted EU law is primary to all others, but generally, they allow individual member states to regulate these things on a national basis (in my experience at least).

So far, has their been any indication that the levels will be reduced and are there many countries in the EU in which these supplements are already banned?

As far as I'm aware, some products will be unsaleable across the entire EU, such as Tribulus which is a widely sold herbal supplement for naturally raising Testosterone levels and increasing libido.
The discomforting issue here is that a herbal supplement may be unavailable, so a chemical such as Viagra may instead be prescribed by a GP.

Other supplements such as Animal Pak, are unsaleable in Ireland, but currently available for sale in France. The reason for this is because it contains 'excessive*' dosages of vitamins.
Supplements such as Animal Pak are frequently sold by people in gyms across Ireland, ordered from France where it can be legally purchased and then sold to consumers in Ireland where it is illegal to purchase.
Seems rather senseless - a bit like our cigarette pricing I would have said, given that we are now the EU Capital of Tobacco and cigarette smuggling.

*excessive is a rather impotent term I would have thought, when comparing a sedentary couch potato and a Tour De France cyclist.

Dinner

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

Yes, you hit the nail on the head.
It appears to be a centralised setting/standardisation, which is rather unconventional I would have thought.
Granted EU law is primary to all others, but generally, they allow individual member states to regulate these things on a national basis (in my experience at least).

The EU have made a few moves to standardise things across Europe. Usually to make things easier for companies to trade in all 27 countries without having to adhere to 27 different sets of legislation. Standardising product warrenties is another example.

Personally, I wouldn't be overly concerned about this. I can't see the EU changing things too much, especially if most products are already available in the majority of countries.

View

A couple of links that might be of interest to you:

DG Health and Consumers

And also:

The European Food Safety Authority

From reading a bit of background on this, it appears that the member states decided that claims for the benefits of "Health & Vitamin" supplements had to be backed up by scientific evidence as to their benefits. They also seem to have been concerned that there was an absence of guidance on dosage for these, which opened the door to something being safe in moderate doses but dangerous if over-consumed (Death by overdosing on Vitamin C )

The EFSA's role incidentally is to be the independent advisory body to everyone else involved in the decision making process. It essentially is totally independent of the EU (i.e. Commission, Council, Parliament and the Member States).

evercloserunion

Yes, you hit the nail on the head.
It appears to be a centralised setting/standardisation, which is rather unconventional I would have thought.
Granted EU law is primary to all others, but generally, they allow individual member states to regulate these things on a national basis (in my experience at least).

I don't think it's unconventional. Harmonised regulation is pretty common in the EU; it prevents a race to the bottom in terms of regulatory standards for foodstuffs and other products. I would have thought that would be particularly important where health supplements are involved, because obviously you want to be able to monitor the chemicals that are going into these things. In the absence of a harmonised regulatory framework is it not possible that some countries could benefit by lowering the standard of regulation to which they subject the industry, attracting companies who want to cut corners, and conversely countries which try to maintain robust regulatory standards would be punished for doing so?

As far as I'm aware, some products will be unsaleable across the entire EU, such as Tribulus which is a widely sold herbal supplement for naturally raising Testosterone levels and increasing libido.
The discomforting issue here is that a herbal supplement may be unavailable, so a chemical such as Viagra may instead be prescribed by a GP.

Other supplements such as Animal Pak, are unsaleable in Ireland, but currently available for sale in France. The reason for this is because it contains 'excessive*' dosages of vitamins.
Supplements such as Animal Pak are frequently sold by people in gyms across Ireland, ordered from France where it can be legally purchased and then sold to consumers in Ireland where it is illegal to purchase.
Seems rather senseless - a bit like our cigarette pricing I would have said, given that we are now the EU Capital of Tobacco and cigarette smuggling.

Do you know how (or why) these things would be immediately made unsaleable?

BetterLisbon

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

The directive was approved by the European Council on 27 September 2001 with Austria, Denmark and Greece voting against and Spain abstaining. All other member states voted in favour.

Where are the people who claim QMV is never used now?

Scofflaw

BetterLisbon wrote: »

Where are the people who claim QMV is never used now?

Same place they were before - in your imagination.

amused,
Scofflaw