LONDON, 30 January - The Alliance for Natural Health has filed a legal challenge against a European directive that would ban a number of vitamin and mineral substances in food supplements. The case is being heard today. Here is a report of BBC. An analogous challenge by the UK Association of Health Stores and by British Health Foods Industry is being heard today as well.
Although the ban is expected to be effective only in 2005, consumers who use the supplements and practitioners who recommend them to patients are alarmed at the prospect of no longer finding them in health stores. According to the ANH, the means to fight its legal action have predominantly been coming from supplement users.
The legal challenge is a landmark in its own right - few European directives have ever been directly challenged in court, although their effect is felt by hundreds of millions of people in all member countries. The aim is to bring the matter of supplement regulations before the European Court of Justice.
ANH LANDMARK LEGAL CHALLENGE TO EU FOOD SUPPLEMENTS BAN
Dame Judy Dench, Dame Joan Plowright and Bianca Jagger are among thousands of consumers all over Europe supporting the Alliance for Natural Health (“ANH”) in its application for Judicial Review of the Food Supplements Directive, which is to be heard in the High Court on Friday 30 January. Unless challenged successfully, the Directive will ban, from 2005, thousands of safe products which have been available for years.
ANH Executive Director, Dr Robert Verkerk, says: “People have had enough – this Directive is supposed to be promoting trade in food supplements in the EU but actually has the reverse effect. It will prohibit from sale many of the more advanced, safe supplements currently available in the UK, Sweden, Ireland and Holland, forcing these countries to comply with a much more restrictive regime more typical of the existing regimes in countries like Germany and France. The governments of these countries are openly hostile to advanced food supplements. We go to court next Friday to commence a test case to address this anomaly with a goal of obtaining a legal regime which befits the 21st Century. We want to ensure that the Directive supports the role of nutrition at the heart of healthcare policy.
We readily endorse the notion of reasonable and proportionate legislation for natural products. But moves to ban around 300 of the 420 or so vitamin and mineral forms currently on the market must be resisted, particularly when this will prevent the sale of some of the most beneficial food supplements that have a long and unblemished track record of safety.”
The ANH is supported by consumers, practitioners, and manufacturers and retailers of innovative food supplements, across 43 countries. Over 80% of funds raised to-date for the challenge have come from the end-users of these innovative food supplements, who are greatly concerned that the Directive will deprive them of access to advanced, bioavailable and effective products of their choice.
David Hinde, Solicitor and Legal Director of the ANH adds: “We have lined up a legal team of the highest calibre with barristers from Brick Court Chambers and solicitors at the Simkins Partnership. ANH’s challenge is based on EU constitutional law grounds. We say that the ban on food supplements imposed by the Directive is quite unnecessary in order to facilitate the internal market and thus goes beyond the legal powers of the Community legislator.
This case may well prove to be a landmark decision on the interface between EU legislative powers, the sovereignty of Member States and the protection of individual and companies’ rights. We support appropriate legislation but the Directive in its present form is unworkable and will have a catastrophic effect on the emerging market for advanced high potency and effective food supplements.”
Erica Murray of the Irish Association of Health Stores who has worked closely with ANH gathering commercial data from Ireland, comments: “This Directive needs to be modified if it’s going to deal fairly with the thousands of smaller businesses involved with innovative natural health products across Europe. Otherwise it will give a huge competitive advantage to the big companies, which dominate mass-market sales of lower potency vitamin and mineral supplements from supermarkets and pharmacies. We have lodged voluminous evidence from the UK, Sweden, Ireland and Italy to show that the Directive – if unchallenged – will have dire consequences for hundreds of smaller businesses in the UK and other parts of Europe.”
Ms Murray adds: “We are pleased to see that other associations have now also seen the light. In particular, we welcome the decision of the UK trade associations – the National Association of Health Stores and the Health Food Manufacturers Association – to mount a parallel challenge. We hope Europe gets the message that people want their advanced supplements. More and more people are choosing natural products and this freedom of choice should not be denied.”
