The UK’s intentions regarding future food supplements policy remain “extremely unclear” in the immediate post-EU Referendum period, warns Consumers for Health Choice in a special Bexit discussion note.
For this reason, the campaign group says that discussing how to maintain choice in supplements with officials and ministers from the newly formed Department for Exiting the European Union (DEEU) should be one of its immediate priorities.
When the UK has completed the process of leaving the EU it will be responsible for vitamin and mineral supplement policy. CHC believes “it is highly unlikely that the UK will then look to implement Article 5 of the Food Supplements Directive (under which maximum levels would be set)”, particularly since it has been Britin that has “largely blocked this from happening in the EU for many years”.
But CHC says the general picture regarding future UK supplements policy remains “extremely unclear”.
The group expects some existing EU laws to be written straight into UK law, partly to reduce otherwise huge burdens on the UK civil service – but also removing the danger of “legislative gaps” and allowing policy makers to “review legislation over the longer time frame”.
A longer-term objective for CHC will be to “lobby for the repeal of elements of EU legislation that restrict consumer choice in the UK” –it cites the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation and – potentially at least – Article 5 of the FSD.
CHC also considers future UK-EU political arrangements and their consequences for supplements regulation. One possible scenario is that the UK may reach an agreement with the Member States that requires complying with EU legislation in exchange for access to the Single Market.
“CHC says that under this scenario the UK would still have to abide by all relevant EU legislation yet have no say in shaping this law”
CHC says that under this scenario the UK would still have to abide by all relevant EU legislation yet have no say in shaping this law. Such an outcome, it warns, would be harmful to the UK food supplements sector: “Without the UK’s liberalizing voice to raise objections, the remaining EU Member States may decide to proceed with implementing Article 5 of the FSD after all. The UK would then be bound to ban all higher potency vitamin and mineral supplements.”
But CHC also finds reason for optimism too. It says that since the appointment of the new European Commission in November 2014, EU policy makers have “dramatically reduced the number of legislative proposals they bring forward” while all proposed legislation must now meet criteria laid down in the Better Regulation Agenda. It notes too that the Commission is pushing ahead with its ‘REFIT’ programme to look at the usefulness of existing EU legislation.
CHC comments: “With the departure of the UK, the EU is undoubtedly losing a liberal, deregulatory voice. Yet the Commission has, to a large extent, accepted the need to do less.” The group, which is an EU-wide organization, pledges to maintain contact with EU officials and “encourage them to continue on a more liberal path”.
