EN    EN EN  
EN    EN  COMMISSION OF THE E UROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 
C(2008) final 
Draft 
COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 
of 
amending Council Directive 90/496/EEC on nutrit ion labelling for foodstuffs as regards 
recommended daily allowances, energy conversion factors and definitions  
EN 2   EN Draft 
COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 
of 
amending Council Directive 90/496/EEC on nutrit ion labelling for foodstuffs as regards 
recommended daily allowances, energy conversion factors and definitions 
(Text with EEA relevance) 
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty esta blishing the European Community, 
Having regard to Council Directive 90/496/ EEC of 24 September 1990 on nutrition labelling 
for foodstuffs1, and in particular Article 1(4)(a) and (j) and Article 5(2) thereof, 
After consulting the European Food Safety Authority, Whereas: (1) Directive 90/496/EEC specifies th at fibre should be defined. 
(2) Conditions for nutrition claims such as 'source of  fibre' or 'high fibre' are laid down in 
the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 of  the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 20 December 2006 on nutrition a nd health claims made on foods
2. 
(3) For reasons of clarity and coherence with ot her Community legislation that refers to 
that notion, it is necessary to provide a definition of 'fibre'. 
(4) The definition of fibre should take in to account relevant work by the Codex 
Alimentarius and the statement related to di etary fibre, expressed on the 6 July 2007, 
by the European Food Safety Authority Scientific Panel on Dietetic Products, 
Nutrition and Allergies. 
                                                 
1 OJ L 276, 6.10.1990, p. 40. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2003/120/EC (OJ L 
333, 20.12.2003, p. 51). 
2 OJ L 12, 18.1.2007, p. 3. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 109/2008 (OJ L 39, 
13.2.2008, p. 14)   
EN 3   EN (5) Fibre has been traditionally consumed as plan t material and has one or more beneficial 
physiological effects such as; decrease intes tinal transit time, in crease stool bulk, is 
fermentable by colonic microflora, reduce blood total choleste rol, reduce blood LDL 
cholesterol levels, reduce post- prandial blood glucose, or reduce blood insulin levels. 
Recent scientific evidence has shown that si milar beneficial physiological effects may 
be obtained from other carbohydr ate polymers that are not di gestible and not naturally 
occurring in the food as consumed. Therefore it is appropriate that the definition of 
fibre should include carbohydrate polymers with  one or more beneficial physiological 
effects. 
(6) The carbohydrate polymers of pl ant origin that meet the definition of fibre may be 
closely associated in the plant with li gnin or other non-carbohydr ate components such 
as phenolic compounds, waxes, saponins , phytates, cutin, phytosterols. These 
substances when closely associated with carbohydrate polymers of  plant origin and 
extracted with the carbohydrate polymers for an alysis of fibre may be considered as 
fibre. However, when separated from th e carbohydrate polymers and added to a food 
these substances should not be considered as fibre. 
(7) In order to take account of new scientific  and technological developments, there is a 
need to amend the list of energy conversion factors. 
(8) The FAO report of a technical workshop on Food energy – methods of analysis and 
conversion factors indicates that 70 percent of the fibre in traditional foods is assumed to be fermentable. Therefore, it is appropr iate that the average energy value for fibre 
should be 8 kJ/g (2 kcal/g). 
(9) Erythritol can be used in a wide variety of foods and its  use is, among others, as a 
replacement for nutrients such as suga r where lower energy value is desired. 
(10) Erythritol is a polyol, and according to the curr ent rules as provided for in Article 5(1) 
of Directive 90/496/EEC, its energy would be  calculated using the conversion factor 
for polyols, namely 10 kJ/g (2,4 kcal/g). Us ing this energy conversion factor would 
not fully inform the consumer about the reduced energy value of  a product achieved 
by the use of erythritol in its manufacture.  The Scientific Co mmittee on Food in its 
opinion on erythritol, expresse d on 5 March 2003, noted th at the energy provided by 
erythritol was less than 0,9 kJ/g  (less than 0,2 kcal/g). Ther efore it is appropriate to 
adopt a suitable energy convers ion factor for erythritol. 
(11) The Annex to Directive 90/496/EEC lists th e vitamins and minerals which may be 
declared as part of the nutrition la belling, specifies th eir recommended daily 
allowances (RDAs) and defines a rule of what constitutes a significant amount. The 
purpose of this RDA list is to provide valu es for nutrition labell ing and the calculation 
of what constitutes a significant amount.  
EN 4   EN (12) The rule on significant amount as define d in the Annex to Directive 90/496/EEC 
constitutes a reference in othe r Community legislation, in particular in Article 8(3) of 
Directive 2002/46/EC of the Eu ropean Parliament and of the Council of 10 June 2002 
on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to food supplements3, 
in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 and in Article 6(6) of Regulation (EC) 
No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament  and the Council of 20 December 2006 on 
the addition of vitamins and minerals a nd of certain other substances to foods4. 
(13) The RDAs listed in the Annex to Di rective 90/496/EEC  are based on the 
recommendation of the FAO/WHO expert c onsultation meeting in Helsinki in 1988. 
(14) In order to ensure coheren ce with other Community legisl ation, the current list of 
vitamins and minerals and their RDAs shoul d be updated in the light of scientific 
developments since 1988. 
(15) The Scientific Committee on Food in its opinion on the revision of reference values 
for nutrition labelling, expressed on 5 Marc h 2003, included referenc e labelling values 
for adults. This opinion covers the vitamins and minerals listed in Annex I to Directive 
2002/46/EC and in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1925/2006. 
(16) The Annex of Directive 90/496/EEC shoul d therefore be amended accordingly. 
(17) The measures provided for in this Directiv e are in accordance with the opinion of the 
Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: 
Article 1 
Directive 90/496/EEC is amended as follows: 
1. In Article 1(4) (j) the following sentence is added:  
"The definition of the material and the method of analysis shall be included in 
Annex II;" 
                                                 
3 OJ L 183, 12.7.2002, p. 51. Directive as amended by Commission Directive 2006/37/EC (OJ L 94, 
1.4.2006, p. 32) 
4 OJ L 404, 30.12.2006, p. 26. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 108/2008 (OJ L 39, 
13.2.2008, p. 11).  
EN 5   EN 2. The following indents are added in Article 5(1):   
"- fibre 2 kcal/g – 8 kJ/g - erythritol 0 kcal/g – 0 kJ/g'." 
3. The Annex is replaced by the text  in Annex I to this Directive. 
4. The text in Annex II to this Directive is added. 
Article 2 
1. Member States shall bring into force by [12 months after the last day of the month of 
publication] at the latest, the laws, re gulations and administrative provisions 
necessary to comply with this Directive.  They shall forthwith communicate to the 
Commission the text of those provisions  and a correlation table between those 
provisions and this Directive. 
They shall apply those provisions in such a way as to prohibit, with effect from [4 
years after the last day of the month of publication], the trade in products which do 
not comply with Directive 90/496/EEC,  as amended by this Directive. 
When Member States adopt those provisions,  they shall contain a reference to this 
Directive or be accompanied by such a reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member States shall determin e how such reference is to be made.  
2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the main provisions 
of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive. 
Article 3 
This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the 
Official Journal of the European Union. 
Article 4 
This Directive is addressed to the Member States. 
Done at Brussels, 
 For the Commission 
 Androulla VASSILIOU  Member of the Commission  
EN 6   EN ANNEX I  
The Annex to Directive 90/496/EEC is replaced by the following: 
'ANNEX I 
Vitamins and minerals which may be declar ed and their recommended daily allowances 
(RDAs) 
 Vitamin A (µg) 
 Vitamin D (µg)  Vitamin E (mg) 
Vitamin K (µg)  
 Vitamin C (mg)  Thiamin (mg)  Riboflavin (mg)  Niacin (mg)  Vitamin B6 (mg)  Folic acid (µg)  Vitamin B12 (µg)  Biotin (µg) 
 Pantothenic acid (mg) 
 800 
5 
12 75 80 
1,1 1,4 
16 
1,4 
200 
2,5 
50 
6  Potassium (mg) 
Chloride (mg)  
 Calcium (mg)  Phosphorus (mg)  Magnesium (mg)  Iron (mg)  Zinc (mg) 
Copper (mg) Manganese (mg) Fluoride (mg)  Selenium (µg)  Chromium (µg) 
Molybdenum (µg) 
 Iodine (µg) 2000 
800 800 700 375 
14 10 
1 2 
3,5 
55 40 
50 
150 
As a rule, 15% of the recommended allowance specified in this Annex supplied by 100 g or 
100 ml or per package if the package contai ns only a single portion should be taken into 
consideration in deciding what constitutes a significant amount."  
EN 7   EN ANNEX II  
The following Annex II is adde d to Directive 90/496/EEC: 
"ANNEX II 
Definition of the material constituting fib re and method of analysis as referred to in 
Article 1(4)(j) 
Definition of the material constituting fibre For the purposes of this Directive 'fibre' means carbohydrate polymers with three or more 
monomeric units, which are neither digested nor  absorbed in the human small intestine and 
belong to the following categories: 
– edible carbohydrate polymers  naturally occurring in the food as consumed; 
– edible carbohydrate polymers which have b een obtained from food raw material by 
physical, enzymatic or chemical means an d which have a bene ficial physiological 
effect demonstrated by generally accepted scientific evidence; 
– edible synthetic carbohydrate polymers whic h have a beneficial physiological effect 
demonstrated by generally accepted scientific evidence.