On Wednesday 13 November, the General Court of the European Union annulled certain provisions of a European Commission amending regulation (2021/468) which banned or placed under restriction certain hydroxyanthracene derivatives (HADs) used in food supplements (cases T-271/21 and T-274-21).
In 2021, the European Commission adopted this regulation, based on opinions from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), warning of potential health risks linked to high and prolonged consumption of HADs, substances naturally present in plants such as rhubarb, senna and aloe vera. Some of these substances were included on the list of banned substances in the EU, appended to a previous regulation dating from 2006.
However, the Ortis company and the Synadiet, BE-SUP and AFEDAPI trade unions, which represent manufacturers of food supplements, have challenged these regulations, citing inadequate assessment of the toxicity of the various substances and incorrect application of the legal provisions.
The General Court ruled in their favour, annulling certain provisions of Article 1 of the amending regulation. It believes that the European Commission has breached the 2006 regulation by applying an overly broad concept of “preparations”, including “substances” or “ingredients” without taking into account the quantity of HADs present.
See the General Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/ea3 (in French) (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)