Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation EC No …/… on the addition of vitamins and minerals and of certain other substances to foods COM(2006) 606 final — 2006/0193 (COD)
Date: 2006-12-13
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: European Commission, food supplement, foodstuff, powers of the institutions (EU), vitamin

C 325/40

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

30.12.2006

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation EC No …/… on the addition of vita-
mins and minerals and of certain other substances to foods

COM(2006) 606 final — 2006/0193 (COD)

(2006/C 325/10)

On 15 November 2006, the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article
95 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the abovementioned proposal.

On 25 October 2006, the Bureau of the European Economic and Social Committee instructed the Section
for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment to undertake the preparatory work.

In view of the urgency of the matter, at its 431st plenary session held on 13 and 14 December 2006
(meeting of 13 December), the European Economic and Social Committee appointed Mr Kapuvari as its
rapporteur-general and adopted the following opinion by 107 votes in favour with one abstention.

1. Conclusions

3. General comments

1.1
The EESC welcomes the inclusion in the Regulation of
the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. The EESC concurs with
the European Commission that it is important to make Com-
munity law simpler and more transparent.

2. Introduction

The present proposal aims to introduce in the Regulation
2.1
(EC) No …/… of the European Parliament and the Council on
the addition of vitamins and minerals and of certain other
substances to foods, reference to the new Regulatory procedure
with scrutiny in all cases where the Commission is empowered
to adopt quasi-legislative measures within the meaning of
Article 2 of Decision 1999/468/EC laying down the procedures
for
implementing powers conferred to the
Commission, as amended by Council Decision 2006/512/EC.

the exercise of

The amendment is needed because of the new comi-

2.2
tology procedure, i.e. the ‘regulatory procedure with scrutiny’.

The proposal is limited to the amendments strictly neces-

2.3
sary to align the Regulation to the Comitology Decision.

Brussels, 13 December 2006.

3.1
The EESC welcomes the inclusion in the Regulation of
the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. The EESC concurs with
the European Commission that it is important to make Com-
munity law simpler and more transparent.

The regulatory procedure with scrutiny makes for more
3.2
effective amendment of non-essential elements of
the basic
instrument, inter alia, by deleting some of those elements or by
adding new non-essential elements.

3.3
The European Economic and Social Committee adopted
an opinion on the addition of vitamins and minerals and of
certain other substances to foods in March 2004, and given that
the current proposal for an amendment is essentially an amalga-
mation exercise, no new opinion on the matter is necessary.

The new rules on the regulatory procedure with scrutiny

3.4
have been in force since 23 July 2006.

It has been ensured that the new Regulation contains no
3.5
changes of substance and serves only the purpose of presenting
Community law in a clear and transparent way. The EESC
strongly endorses this objective and in view of this, welcomes
the proposal.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS