Regulation 1997/258 - Novel foods and novel food ingredients - Main contents

official title

 

Legal instrument	Regulation
Number legal act	Regulation 1997/258
Original proposal	COM(1992)295
CELEX number i	31997R0258

Avis juridique important

|

Regulation (EC) No 258/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 1997 concerning novel foods and novel food ingredients

Official Journal L 043 , 14/02/1997 P. 0001 - 0006

REGULATION (EC) No 258/97 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 January 1997 concerning novel foods and novel food ingredients

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 100a thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189b of the Treaty (3) in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 9 December 1996,

• (1) 

  Whereas differences between national laws relating to novel foods or food ingredients may hinder the free movement of foodstuffs; whereas they may create conditions of unfair competition, thereby directly affecting the functioning of the internal market;

• (2) 

  Whereas, in order to protect public health, it is necessary to ensure that novel foods and novel food ingredients are subject to a single safety assessment through a Community procedure before they are placed on the market within the Community; whereas in the case of novel foods and novel food ingredients which are substantially equivalent to existing foods or food ingredients a simplified procedure should be provided for;

• (3) 

  Whereas food additives, flavourings for use in foodstuffs and extraction solvents are covered by other Community legislation and should therefore be excluded from the scope of this Regulation;

• (4) 

  Whereas appropriate arrangements should be made for the placing on the market of novel foods and novel food ingredients derived from plant varieties subject to Council Directive 70/457/EEC of 29 September 1970 on the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species (4) and Council Directive 70/458/EEC of 29 September 1970 on the marketing of vegetable seed (5);

• (5) 

  Whereas risks to the environment may be associated with novel foods or novel food ingredients which contain or consist of genetically modified organisms; whereas Council Directive 90/220/EEC of 23 April 1990 on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms (6) stipulates that, for such products, an environmental risk assessment must always be undertaken to ensure environmental safety; whereas, in order to establish a unified Community system for assessment of such products, provision must be made under this Regulation for a specific environmental risk assessment, which in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 10 of Directive 90/220/EEC must be similar to that laid down in that Directive, but must also include the assessment of the suitability of the product to be used as a food or food ingredient;

• (6) 

  Whereas the Scientific Committee for Food set up by Decision 74/234/EEC (7) should be consulted on any question relating to this Regulation which may have an effect on public health;

• (7) 

  Whereas Council Directive 89/397/EEC of 14 June 1989 on the official control of foodstuffs (8) and Council Directive 93/99/EEC of 29 October 1993 on the subject of additional measures concerning the official control of foodstuffs (9) apply to novel foods or food ingredients;

• (8) 

  Whereas, without prejudice to the other requirements in Community legislation relating to the labelling of foodstuffs, additional specific requirements on labelling should be laid down; whereas these requirements must be subject to precise provisions in order to ensure that the necessary information is available to the consumer; whereas defined population groups associated with well established practices regarding...

This text has been adopted from EUR-Lex.

This page is also available in a full version containing the summary of legislation, de geconsolideerde versie, the legal context, de Europese rechtsgrond, other dossiers related to the dossier at hand and finally the related cases of the European Court of Justice.