LANDMARK CASE IN EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE : CHALLENGING FOOD SUPPLEMENTS BAN
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ALLIANCE FOR NATURAL HEALTH
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9 December 2004
LANDMARK CASE IN EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE
CHALLENGING FOOD SUPPLEMENTS BAN SET FOR HEARING ON 25 JANUARY 2005
The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) and Nutri-Link Ltd announce that their case in the European Court of Justice seeking to overturn the Food Supplements Directive ban on many natural food-form vitamin and mineral supplements has now been listed for hearing on 25 January 2005.
The ANH is seeking to challenge the ban in the EU Food Supplements Directive (FSD) on many advanced, natural high potency food supplements.
From 1 August 2005, the FSD will only allow products containing nutrients which are included on a specific positive list to be sold in EU countries, despite the fact that many products containing off-list ingredients were previously being sold without any problems in a number of EU member states prior to the proposed ban.
For many years, countries such as the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Ireland have followed a flexible regime whereby food supplements have been regarded as food and can be put on the market provided they are safe and correctly labelled. It is left up to the consumer to choose which products are bought.
Without these products consumers will be deprived of access to the most effective supplements of their choice and practitioners will lose many of their most useful sources of key nutrients and many supplier companies will be driven out of business.
On this news, Dr Robert Verkerk, ANH Executive Director, commented:
"We are delighted that an early hearing date has now been set and are hopeful that the European Court in Luxembourg will invalidate the quite unnecessary ban on the wide range of perfectly safe natural, food-derived ingredients which comprise most of the advanced food supplements."
David Hinde, Solicitor, ANH Legal Director, added:
"We are looking forward to the hearing in January 2005 for this landmark case which has far reaching implications for health as well as freedom of choice for consumers across the European Union."
The Alliance for Natural Health and Nutri-link Ltd are being represented by barristers Paul Lasok QC, Michael Patchett-Joyce and Anneli Howard of Monckton Chambers and Jonathan Coad, Solicitor, at the Simkins Partnership.
Further announcements will be made in due course.
For details of the ECJ case (Case C-154/04 Alliance for Natural Health and Others) please go to ANHs website at the following link:
www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?Action=archive&categoryID=7
Enquiries:
David C. Hinde, Solicitor
Legal Director
Tel: 020 7 738 1640 (direct Tel: 07958 548 186 (mobile)
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr Robert Verkerk
Executive Director
Tel: 01252 371 275 (general enquiries)
Tel: 0771 484 7225 (mobile)
E-mail: [email protected]
IKON Associates (PR for the Alliance for Natural Health)
Adrian Shaw
Tel: 01483 535102
Mobile: 0797 9900733
E-mail: [email protected]
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