Addition of vitamins and minerals and of certain other substances to foods: Commission implementing powers

PURPOSE : to amend the European Parliament and Council Regulation on the addition of vitamins and minerals and of certain other substances to foods, to align it with Council Decision 2006/512/EC amending Decision 1999/468/EC laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred to the Commission (comitology).

LEGISLATIVE ACT : Regulation (EC) N° 108/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) N° 1925/2006 on the addition of vitamins and minerals and of certain other substances to foods

CONTENT: Decision 1999/468/EC has been amended by Decision 2006/512/EC, which introduced a regulatory procedure with scrutiny (see CNS/2002/0298) to be used for the adoption of implementing measures of general scope which seek to amend non-essential elements of a basic instrument adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty, including by deleting some of those elements or by supplementing the instrument by the addition of new non-essential elements.

This Regulation provides that the regulatory procedure with scrutiny will be applied to the following areas:

- modifications to Annexes I and II to Regulation (EC) N° 1925/2006;

- establishing additional foods to which particular vitamins or minerals may not be added;

- taking decisions to establish and/or amend the lists of authorised, prohibited or restricted other substances;

- defining the conditions under which vitamins and minerals may be used, such as purity criteria, maximum amounts, minimum amounts and other restrictions or prohibitions on the addition of vitamins and minerals to food;

- establishing derogations from certain provisions of the Regulation.

Furthermore, when, on imperative grounds of urgency, the normal time-limits for the regulatory procedure with scrutiny cannot be complied with, the Commission will be able to use the urgency procedure provided for in Article 5a (6) of Decision 1999/468/EC for the deletion of certain vitamins or minerals listed in the annexes and for the inclusion and amendment of certain other substances in Annex III to Regulation (EC) N° 1925/2006.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 04/03/2008.