Workshop highlights legal recourse for companies facuing trade barriers across the EU
17 June 2008
Food supplement companies learnt valuable tips for overcoming trade barriers across the European Union (EU) at a Free Trade Initiative workshop organised by trade organisation EHPM.
The sell-out workshop, which took place in Brussels on 15 May, highlighted the practical opportunities and challenges facing the sector when marketing food supplement products across different EU markets.
Speaker Hans Ingels, from Commission’s DG Entreprise, emphasised the European Commission’s proposal for a Mutual Recognition Regulation, which he said should ensure the correct application of the mutual recognition principle by member states and ease the burden of manufacturers of food supplements and other health products.
The principle of Mutual Recognition applies to the free movement of goods across EU Member States in situations where the legislation at stake has not yet been fully harmonised at EU level. It states that any restrictive measure must obey to very strict criteria established by the European Court of Justice. In practice, however, a large number of companies continue to face barriers to trade when developing pan-European marketing strategies.
“As harmonisation is not complete in the area of food supplements, significant trade barriers still exist at national level linked to levels, ingredients, and labeling and claims,” said EHPM Chairman, Peter van Doorn. “The Commission’s proposal for a new regulation on mutual recognition will go a long way towards ensuring the free movement of goods across the EU Member States. We believe that denial of mutual recognition among the Member States should be the exception, rather than the norm.”
Participants at the event were given an overview of the barriers to trade for food supplements in the EU; the legal principles and practical application of the principle of mutual recognition, as well as case law that can be used to overcome national trade barriers and allow the free movement of food supplements across the 27 member states; practical tips from operators on overcoming trade barriers and the recent acceptance of mutual recognition by France and its impact on the market.
Lorène Courrège, EHPM Director of Regulatory Affairs, said: “France has historically been a restrictive market for the marketing of food supplements, so its incorporation of the mutual recognition principle in its food supplement legislation is momentous, as it allows for the acceptance of products legally put on the market in another member state. We wish that more Member States would follow suit as it is actions like these that will move us ahead in the battle to breakdown barriers to trade.”