. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/230 
27 October 2008 
 (08-5215) 
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 80 43 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu
 
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/  
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):   Foodstuffs suitable for 
people intolerant to gluten. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   Draft Commission 
Regulation concerning the composition and la belling of foodstuffs suitable for people 
intolerant to gluten (6 pages, in English). 
6. Description of content:   This draft Commission Regulation is necessary because a specific 
group of the population, people with coeliac di sease, suffer from a permanent intolerance to 
gluten and, therefore, need the labelling of products in order to ma ke appropriate food 
choices. 
Article 4a of the framework Directive on diet etic foods (89/368/EEC) foresees the setting of 
rules for the use of terms concerning the absence of gluten in foodstuffs.  
The setting of such rules at Community level w ill ensure the same high level of protection 
for consumers and allow for the free movement of the concerned products. 
This draft presents sensible and proportionate  rules on composition and labelling to enable 
people with gluten intolerance to find on the ma rket a variety of food suitable to their needs 
and to their level of sensitivity. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of human health. G/TBT/N/EEC/230 
Page 2  
 
  8. Relevant documents:   Codex Standard for Foods for Special Dietary Uses for persons 
intolerant to Gluten adopted by the 31st session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 
July 2008-10-15 http://www.codexalimentarius.net/d ownload/standards/291/cxs_118e.pdf
 
Council Directive 89/368/EEC 
http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ. do?uri=CONSLEG:1989L0 398:20031120:EN:PDF  
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    January 2009 
20 days from publication in the Official Journal of the EU (about a month after adoption approx.) Applicable from 1 January 2012 
10. Final date for comments:   60 days from date of notification. 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [    ] 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 80 43 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu
 
The text is available on the EC-TBT Website :  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/    
And at: 
http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2008/tbt/eec/08_3438_00_e.pdf