EAS to Hold Workshop on Navigating EU regulation

4 Apr 2013 --- Food supplement companies struggling to navigate changing EU regulations when launching products across its 27 Member States can get clear, actionable advice at the upcoming EAS Strategic Advice workshop in Brussels.

Taking place on 30 May and limited to 25 participants only, the EAS workshop titled ‘Building a Regulatory Strategy for Marketing Food Supplements in Europe: The key steps to a successful product launch’, will cover all of the regulatory elements that must be understood when launching products in Europe’s diverse marketplace.

EAS experts Efi Leontopoulou, Katarina Wagner, Elodie Lebastard, Claire Lennon and Stefanie Geiser will guide participants step-by-step through EU-wide and national processes for launching food supplements, from product classification advice on the use of vitamins, minerals and other ingredients, including botanicals, to novel food strategies, labelling tips and the practical impact of the EU health claims regulation.

“Knowing where EU regulatory compliance ends and national Member State compliance begins can be challenging for companies especially when marketing products across a number of EU Member States,” said EAS Food Law Manager Elodie Lebastard. “Harmonisation in this area is not complete, and market-specific regulations can throw up unexpected obstacles in terms of ingredient classification and health claim interpretations, for example. Our workshop clarifies these borderlines and aims to help companies overcome these challenges.”

The workshop will cover the legislative provisions that result in difficulties in classifying some nutritional products; mandatory and optional harmonised rules; maximum levels for vitamins and minerals; rules relating to other ingredients, including botanicals; the status quo and expectations relating to novel foods; compliance with the recently introduced EU labelling legislation, and new avenues for making health claims based on the latest and future regulatory developments in this area.

“Companies are facing difficulties in understanding how health claims can now be used in practice and the challenges for their products on the national markets,” said EAS Regulatory Affairs Manager Stefanie Geiser. “With the immense changes underway in the EU, our workshop will clarify the latest regulatory developments in this area, including practical advice on EU Member States guidelines on the flexibility of wording related to authorised health claims, and how to ensure regulatory compliance on websites and in brochures/other marketing materials.”