. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/138 
11 December 2006 
 (06-5920) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   European Commission 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:    
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point 
Fax: (+32) 2 299 57.25 Email: ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu 
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:         
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in  addition, where applicable):   Vitamins and minerals 
and certain other substances  which are added to food. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Regulation of the 
European Parliament and of the Council on the addition of vitamins and minerals and of 
certain other substances to foods   (2003/0262 (COD)  (41 pages,  available in all Community 
languages). 
6. Description of content:   The proposed Regulation sets out harmonised EU rules for adding 
vitamins and minerals.  It would create a list of the vitamins and minerals which could be 
added to foods and establishes the criteria fo r setting the minimum and maximum levels for 
such nutrients added to food, on the basis of scientific advice. 
Moreover, the Regulation would allow for the scrutiny, under certain conditions, of other 
substances with a nutritional or physiological effect added to foods.  
In recent years there has been a trend for subs tances such as herbal extracts, amino acids 
and others to be added to f oods.  These substances are often found naturally in food but they 
are sometimes added to food in high concentra tions.  Their addition is usually associated 
with a claim that the substance and the pr oduct may have a beneficial effect on the 
customer's health.  
There is currently very lit.tle scientific evidence to show whet her these substances are safe 
when they are consumed in large quantiti es. The proposed Regulation would establish a 
procedure involving the European Food Safety  Authority (EFSA) which, for the first time, 
would allow the examination of these substa nces to assess any possible risk to human 
health. EFSA is an independent agency whic h advises the European Commission on food 
safety issues. G/TBT/N/EEC/138 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
To harmonise the rules governing the manufacturing and marketing of these products in the 
EU in order to ensure that such products marketed are safe. 
8. Relevant documents:   2003/0262 (COD)     PE-CONS 3617/06 
All linguistic versions are available from the Council register: 
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/servlet/d river?page=Advanced&typ=&lang=EN&fc=RE
GAISEN&srm=25&md=100&cmsid=639 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
 
Proposed date of entry into force:    Publication of the measure is foreseen for end 
of  December 2006 
20 days after the publication 
10. Final date for comments:   This measure has not been previously notified.  Comments can 
be submitted within 30 days and may be take n into account in a future revision of the 
Regulation. 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:   
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point 
Fax: (+32) 2 299 57 25 
E-mail: ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu