Six Months Not a Long Enough Transition Period for Rejected Article 13.5 Claims, Says EHPM

Source: European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers

The six-month transition period given for Article 13.1 claims that will be rejected for use in the European Union is too short and impractical for food supplement manufacturers, European trade association EHPM has said.

Commenting following the confirmation of the six-month transition period at a conference in Berlin last week, EHPM said that with a shelf life of up to three years for most supplement products the short length of time for transition would result in significant costs for SMEs.

“Given the short deadline, companies would have to change their labels and they will not be able to produce packaging on such short notice and sell through their stock,” said EHPM Director of European Policy Cynthia Rousselot. “The result may be a shortage of stock for consumers.”

“A more proportionate approach would be to extend the proposed transition period from six months to at least 18 months,” she continued. “Given that the enforcement of the regulation will be in the hands of the Member States, we trust that they will take into consideration the shelf life of our products when determining the timeframe for the withdrawal of these from the market.”

The European Federation of Associations of Health Product Manufacturers (EHPM) was created in 1975, working to provide consumers with safe, science-based, high quality products as well as accurate and helpful information about their nutritional value and use. To contact EHPM email secretariat@ehpm.be, tel + (32) 2 209 11 45, or visit www.ehpm.org