In its plenary session of 26 May 2005, the European Parliament has rejected the introduction of nutritional profiles as the basis for the admissibility of certain advertising claims, through the regulation concerning nutritional value and health information. Just as they did previously with the industry, internal market and consumer committees and with the environmental committee, the plenary of the European Parliament has voted against nutritional profiles, against the main prohibitions of general health and well-being claims, in favour of appropriate regulation and against the bureaucratic authorization procedures.
The Commission had proposed to only make positive food and health claims possible in those products with a certain nutritional profile, such as, for example, fat, sugar or salt content, and partly only in combination with a costly authorization procedure.
“We celebrate that the European Parliament has supported our criticism of the Commission’s regulation proposal”, explains Professor Dr. Mathias Horst, secretary general of BLL (Bund für Lebensmittelrecht und Lebensmittelkunde e.V.), the main food economy association in Germany. “It cannot be the case that some food products are classified as good or bad according to European Union legislation nor that the consumers are legally supervised or that a prior control of the exact text of the advertising claims is imposed on the companies. Excess red tape is counterproductive for innovation and prevents a country’s development. We hope that the European Parliament’s vote sets the standard for the future deliberations of the member states. The German government has also shared our criticism of the regulation proposal; there is now the possibility of finding majorities for the common positions. The European Parliament has persistently demonstrated that it is against tutelage and in favour of consumers making their own decisions based on information and under their own responsibility, following the “information rather than prohibition” principle.