Verdict
Pills against stress and tribulation? ECJ limits advertising
Many dietary supplements draw attention to themselves with health promises – also because of a legal gray area. The ECJ is now shifting the bar to part of it.
A melon juice extract against exhaustion, ginkgo against dementia, St. John’s wort for the mood: In the growing market for nutritional supplements, clearer rules will apply in the future to which advertising statements are allowed and which are not. Unchecked health -related information on so -called botanicals, i.e. vegetable ingredients, are prohibited until further notice, the European Court of Justice judged. What this means for companies and consumers.
“Botanicals” in the legal gray area
A list of the EU actually regulates which health -related information is permitted. The process is clear for vitamins and minerals: the EU Authority of Food Safety (EFSA) checks the statement and determines limit values. For example, it stipulates the value of the statement that the vitamin biotin contributes to a normal function of the nervous system. Manufacturers and consumers can then follow it.
However, EFSA rejected applications with advertising statements on so -called botanicals in large numbers – also because studies are lacking. As a result, the Commission set up the examination of statements on “Botanicals” in 2010. This has developed from this a kind of gray area, complain of consumer advocates, in which some creative promises are advertised.
Hamburg company Warb with saffron and melon extract
Specifically, it is about a procedure against the Hamburg company Novel Nutriology. It applied for a nutritional supplement with the fact that it contains a mood -enhancing saffron extract as well as a melon jug extract against feelings of stress and exhaustion. The Association of Social Competition saw this an inadmissible health -related statement and complained.
“Even if some ingredients are fundamentally effective, the doses in the dietary supplement are often far too low,” says Heike Silber from the Baden-Württemberg Consumer Center. She complains that dietary supplements with recognized medicinal plants would not be awakened.
According to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in Berlin, healthy people who eat a balanced and varied diet generally do not need any dietary supplements in Berlin. A representative BFR study from last autumn shows that 77 percent of the approximately 1,000 respondents have taken nutritional supplements in the past twelve months, 63 percent of them even weekly.
Company complaints for research
Especially for the growing market with nutritional supplements, the judgment should have noticeable consequences. “We respect the judgment, but we consider it highly problematic – not only for us, but for the entire industry,” said Novel Nutriology. For raw material manufacturers, research is no longer worthwhile under these framework conditions. The judgment is a real obstacle to innovation.
The ban on the EU Commission has been checking the advertising statements and included in the list provided, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg judged. Exceptions are only possible if there is a separate regulation. In the present litigation, which was referred to the ECJ by the Federal Court of Justice, this is not the case.
dpa
Source: Stern
