London MEP welcomes court opinion on EU vitamin ban

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 5th Apr 2005

Advocate General Geelhoed of The European Court of Justice has this morning (5 April) delivered his opinion that the imminent EU ban on vitamins and mineral supplements is 'invalid'.[1,2]

London's Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford said: "Hopefully this heralds a victory for freedom of choice, for consumers, and for supplements manufacturers. The EU has attracted wide criticism that it is guilty of nanny meddling and regulatory overkill with this piece of legislation."

"Most of the condemned supplements have been used safely in this country for years. Concerns about the effects of taking more than the recommended daily allowance could be addressed with better labelling rather than an outright ban."

The Advocate General has recommended that the Court annul the Directive on the grounds that it is disproportionate and fails to offer legal certainty or clarity about what is permissible.

British campaigners the Alliance for Natural Health and National Association of Health Stores managed to get the case referred by the English High Court to the European Court of Justice.

The next stage in the case is for the judges of the European Court to meet to take a decision on the opinion. No date has been set, but the procedure is normally five to six months following the opinion.

The EU Food Supplements Directive, due to take effect from August 2005, entails that thousands of vitamin and mineral supplements in the UK would have to be taken off the shelves. The intended ban has outraged manufacturers, retailers, practitioners and consumers reliant on these products across Europe.

European Liberal Democrat MEPs voted overwhelmingly against the Directive's adoption when it was brought before the European Parliament. When it came to implementation in national law, the UK government, which had supported the Directive in Brussels, used its majority to whip through the legislation.

Ends

Notes

[1] The text of this opinion is available upon request to sludfordmep@cix.co.uk.

[2] The Advocate General is the core official who gives the preliminary advice to the judges. They are not obliged to follow his/her opinion but they usually do.