Many people have contacted me regarding EU legislation on vitamins, food supplements and also herbal remedies. The Liberal Democrats start from the view that consumer safety must always be of paramount concern. However it is clear that the proposed legislation on food supplements represents over-regulation.
The party has always held that one of the surest way to improve the National Health Service is to tackle the causes of ill-health and I personally believe that vitamins and nutrients have a part to play in maintaining good health in the context of a balanced diet.
The EU decision was in fact made some time ago. My Lib Dem Colleague MEP Chris Huhne did considerable work on this issue at the time to draw attention to the unsatisfactory nature of the Directive, but unfortunately the Council of Ministers voted in favour of the Directive. Consumers and small health care companies are understandably worried about the impact this will have on individual's rights to determine their own health. My family uses a number of vitamins and supplements - with consequent rare visits to the doctor, and therefore share these concerns.
The position at present is that the Health Food Alliance successfully challenged the Directive in the High Court in January of this year. They argued that the Directive was disproportionate, unfair and would restrict the free movement of goods. The judge ruled that the case should be referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg as this is the only court with the power to quash an EU directive.
A Directive is binding as to the result to be achieved by member states, however it is up to each original member state to determine how that directive is to be achieved. At present as the Directive has been referred to Court, the matter is sub-judice and therefore we are unable to discuss that specific matter in Parliament. In my view, the best result that could be obtained is that the Directive is quashed in Luxembourg.
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