PATRICK COPPENS
International Food and Health Law and Scientifi c Affairs,EAS Strategic Advice (Europe offi ce),Rue de l’Association 50, B-1000, Brussels, Belgium

Abstract

In the European Union (EU) legislation relating to the labelling of food supplements currently falls under two Directives and a soon-to-be applicable Regulation. Food supplements are classified as food products in the EU. As such, these products are subject to the general labelling provisions laid down in “Directive 2000/13/EC on the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs”. As a Directive, this law is a general law, leaving specific implementation to the EU Member States, which has in the past resulted in slightly different interpretations in implementation across Member States.

In December 2011 however, a new “Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers” (food labelling) came into force. As a Regulation rather than a Directive, this law automatically enters into force in all Member States on a given date – in this case 13 December 2014 for most requirements, with some exceptions such as nutrition declaration requirements which only become applicable on 13 December 2016. The new Regulation updates and will repeal the current Directive (2000/13/EC). As food supplements are classified as food products in the EU, the provisions stipulated in this Regulation also require careful attention by manufacturers to ensure the correct labelling of final products.

In addition to these general food labelling provisions, food supplements must also respect specific labelling requirements covered under the 2002 EU Food Supplement Directive (Directive 2002/46/EC).

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS SPECIFIC TO FOOD SUPPLEMENTS
The 2002 EU Food Supplement Directive harmonises the rules for labelling food supplements among the EU Member States. It stipulates that the following must be included on the la ...