BRUSSELS, Belgium—The European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers (EHPM) filed a complaint on July 29 with the European Ombudsman, challenging the decision of the European Commission (EC) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to take a batch-wise approach to adopting the community list of permitted Article 13.1 health claims under the EU health claims regulation.
EHPM argues the ombudsman should formally recommend the EC should wait until EFSA delivers all of its evaluations of the Article 13.1 claims before taking steps to decide about the Community list of such permitted claims. The European Ombudsman examines cases of maladministration of issues handled by a European institution, serving as a mediator within the EU.
“We feel at this stage we have no other alternative but to take the Commission and EFSA to the European Ombudsman," said Peter van Doorn, EHPM’s chairman. “We have exhausted all other appropriate avenues at this stage. We have been constructive and fair partners throughout the process and we have invested many hundreds of hours to try to ensure a fair outcome. Ultimately we believe that the current process is seriously flawed and if the Commission continues with its batch-wise approach to the implementation of Article 13.1 of the claims regulation, legal and valid claims that are essential for the food supplement and food ingredient sectors will be wiped out —without taking any time to seriously consider what we stand to lose."
Article 13.1 of the EU’s claims regulation charges the EC with developing a Community list of permitted general health claims that are made on foods and food supplements, following their scientific validation by EFSA. Following the regulation’s implementation, EFSA decided to issue its evaluations in batches. While the EC originally objected, it is now using this approach in making final decisions on the validity of the claims.
