Sales Ruled Invalid UK Laws Regulating Vitamin Sales Ruled Invalid Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Sensitivity: Normal
UK Laws Regulating Vitamin=20 Sales Ruled Invalid By David Derbyshire and David Rennie=20 The Telegraph - UK -- 4-6-5 =C2=A0 The British health food industry claimed a major victory yesterday after c= ontroversial laws to tighten up the sale of vitamin pills and health suppl= ements were declared invalid. =C2=A0 The interim advice, issued by a senior judge at the European Court of Just= ice in Luxembourg, found that the legislation failed to protect the rights= of individuals and firms seeking to have products declared safe for sale. =C2=A0 It was also scathing about the way the rules were drawn up, calling them "= as transparent as a black box". =C2=A0 If the legal opinion is accepted by the full court, then much of the EU's = Food Supplements Directive due to come into force in August may have to be= rewritten. =C2=A0 The declaration followed a legal challenge from British campaigners who ar= gued that the new rules would lead to thousands of common food supplements= being banned. =C2=A0 "It is a very substantial victory and it's a crowbar in the door," said Dr= Robert Verkerk, a spokesman for the Alliance for Natural Health. =C2=A0 The Food Supplements Directive was designed to standardise vitamin, minera= l and food supplements, which are taken by about 43 per cent of Britons. =C2=A0 Under the new rules, only ingredients on an approved list could be used in= supplements. There would also be restrictions on the upper limits of vita= min doses. =C2=A0 The industry was given until July 12 to submit detailed scientific dossier= s proving that their ingredients were safe. =C2=A0 Supporters of the legislation said it would protect consumers who bought f= ood supplements without any guarantees about quality or safety. =C2=A0 Critics, who included Carole Caplin, the former health and beauty adviser = to Cherie Blair, said the rules were unnecessary and would lead to 5,000 p= roducts being banned. =C2=A0 The British Health Food Manufacturers Association, the National Associatio= n of Health Stores and Alliance for Natural Health, which launched the cha= llenge, said the costs of complying were too high for small companies. =C2=A0 In his advice to the European Court of Justice, Leendert Geelhoed, the adv= ocate general, backed the principle of an approved list. =C2=A0 But he said the wording of the directive was "seriously deficient" and inf= ringed basic legal and administrative principles. =C2=A0 It lacked clearly-defined rules and norms for the European Commission to f= ollow when deciding which products to add to the list. =C2=A0 It was also unclear whether manufacturers would be able to submit products= for evaluation, he said. =C2=A0 "The directive does not comply with essential requirements of legal protec= tion, of legal certainty and of sound administration, which are basic prin= ciples of Community law," he said. =C2=A0 "Thus it is lacking appropriate and transparent procedures for its applica= tion, and the directive infringes the principle of proportionality. It is = therefore invalid." =C2=A0 The full court is expected to reach a verdict in a few months time. Howeve= r, in most cases, judges follow the advice of the advocate general. =C2=A0 Andrew Lockley, from the solicitors Irwin Mitchell, the legal adviser to t= he HFMA and NAHS, said: "It is encouraging that the advocate general has s= upported our view that the directive does not provide a fair mechanism for= the regulation of food supplements." =C2=A0 Peter Aldis, the managing director of the health food chain Holland & Barr= ett, said: "The opinion is a scathing indictment of this shoddy piece of l= egislation. =C2=A0 "The court's conclusions show the European Commission and those who agreed= this flawed regulation in an extremely bad light. =C2=A0 "The Prime Minister must now intervene to ensure that all the ingredients = that would otherwise come off the UK market in July are protected by the i= mmediate submission of the necessary dossiers to Europe by the Food Standa= rds Agency." =C2=A0 Chris Grayling, the shadow health minister, said: "This is not the final r= uling, but I am confident that we are in a position where we're close to w= inning the battle to scrap this controversial measure." =C2=A0 =C2=A9 Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005. =C2=A0 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/xml=3D From: <Rense.com> in SILvation, Douglas H -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver List archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] OT Archive: http://escribe.com/health/silverofftopiclist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
