Brussels, 01/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - Consumer's eating habits will be the main subject of debate in Luxembourg on Friday 3 June, when EU ministers meet for the consumer issues section of the Employment, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Affairs Council. No formal decisions are expected but the Luxembourg Presidency hopes agreement in principle will be reached on two issues under great public scrutiny that the European Parliament has just considered in first reading, namely the draft regulation on food and health claims, where the jury is still out; and the draft regulation on the addition of vitamins, minerals. The Council meeting, chaired by Luxembourg's heath minister, Mars Di Barolomeo, will be open to the public. Markos Kyprianou, Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner, will be representing the European Commission.
Nutrition and health claims. The Council will hold a policy debate and is expected to reach agreement in principle on the draft regulation, aiming to harmonise the use of commercial health claims for the benefits of food and claims of nutritional properties, to ensure the claims have scientific foundations and are not misleading. Giving its opinions on the draft regulation in first reading on 26 May, the European Parliament scrapped Article 4 on the nutritional profile of food to the great disappointment of consumer organisations and the European Commission, which saw Article 4 as the cornerstone of the entire regulation (see Europe No. 8958). The Luxembourg Presidency is not planning to follow suit and scrap Article 4, especially given that the great majority of Member States support it (Germany is fiercely opposed). Sources closed to the Luxembourg Presidency suggest the Luxembourg Presidency is considering an Article 4 very similar to that proposed by the Commission to allow health claims to be authorised only for food corresponding to profiles established by the comitology procedure.
Addition of vitamins, minerals and other substances to food. The Council will hold a policy debate and is expected to reach agreement in principle on the November 2003 draft regulation to harmonise the different national rules across the EU and cut down obstacles to the sale of fortified food in the single market while ensuring food is safe and consumers are provided with accurate information. The draft regulation suggests that only vitamins and minerals without any risk to health should be added to food (apart from drinks containing more than 1.2% alcohol) and recommends setting maximum recommended daily intakes for vitamins and minerals. It sets out a positive list of a hundred or so authorised substances and a negative list of banned substances. The draft regulation was welcomed in the European Parliament's first reading on 26 May, and has also been welcomed by the delegations so agreement in principle will not be difficult to reach.
Health/Consumers Action Plan. The Council will hold a public debate on the health aspects of the draft decision to establish an integrated EU Health and Consumer Protection Programme for 2007-2013. The Luxembourg Presidency will ask health ministers to say whether the programme's aims (protecting citizens from health dangers, promoting policies to encourage healthier lifestyles, helping reduce the incidence of serious illnesses in the EU, helping develop more effective healthcare systems, supporting these aims by providing health information and analyses) meet their expectations.