Euro-court backs vitamin restrictions

July 18th 2005

British herbal medicine retailers suffered a fresh blow yesterday when a European court upheld new rules restricting what they can sale.

The controversial new EU ruling on vitamin and mineral supplements was upheld yesterday by the European Court of Justice.

The Food Supplements Directive comes into force on 1 August.

Alternative medicine practitioners believe that the law, banning around 200 supplements from sale, will restrict consumer choice and threaten the existence of small suppliers. But the judges felt that supplements must be controlled in a similar way to conventional medicines, despite their Advocate General Leendert Geelhoed stating in April that the directive infringed legal guidelines.

The ruling states that certain restrictions are justified for the protection of public health, and believe the new measures are necessary. From August, only vitamins and minerals from an approved list will be on sale.

Speaking yesterday, a representative from the British Dietetic Association pointed out that most products will be unaffected, and that manufacturers are being given time to alter their brands.

However, others including the Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb, feel that freedom of choice is at stake.

He said: "There is no reason why national governments should not be able to allow their own consumers to use products which do not have Europe-wide approval."

The judges did make a slight compromise by simplifying the application process for supplements.

They said: "An application to have a substance included on a list may be refused only on the basis of a full risk assessment.

"A refusal must also be open to challenge before the courts."

UK public health minister Caroline Flint said: "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."

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