Proposal to revise the legislation for dietetic foods now under discussion by the European Council of Ministers Nov 2011

The European Commission published a proposal to revise the current legislation for Foods for Particular Nutritional Uses (PARNUTs), known as the ‘PARNUTs Framework Directive’, in June 2011.  The Commission proposal is now under discussion by the European Council of Ministers.

The Council of Ministers is made up of ministers of Member States of the European Union.  The Department of Health is representing the UK at these Council working group meetings and is expected to negotiate on behalf of the UK.

In order to inform the UK position for the Council meetings, the Department of Health held a UK-wide consultation in August-September 2011, which sought to assess the views of UK stakeholders on the impact of the Commission proposal to revise the PARNUTs legislation in the UK.  At the end of October, the DH confirmed that the UK position was still being finalised following the consultation.

BSNA awaits the publication of the Department of Health’s position and hopes that, despite the absence of a published UK opinion, the UK representative at the meeting is sufficiently informed and able to express the views and opinions of UK stakeholders at the Council meetings while these important negotiations are taking place in Europe.