EU Law Blog

I did not notice until today that some members of the UK Parliament have proposed a Bill to disapply the food supplements directive and regulations in the UK (the Food Supplements (European Communities Act 1972 Disapplication) Bill. Clause 1 of the Bill provides that the 2002 Directive and any judgment of the ECJ relating to it shall have no effect in the UK. The Bill goes on to state in clause 3(3) (amending the Food Safety Act 1990):

(1) The appropriate authority shall make regulations—
(a) prohibiting the sale of any food supplement in the manufacture of which a vitamin or mineral has been used unless that vitamin or mineral—
(i) is authorised for use in the manufacture of food supplements, and
(ii) is in a form which is so authorised and meets such purity criteria as shall be specified; and
(b) making such other provision relating to food supplements as it considers appropriate.
(2) Before making regulations under subsection (1) the appropriate authority shall consult—
(a) such persons or bodies as appear to it to be representative of the interests of complementary medicine, and
(b) such other persons or bodies as it considers appropriate.

Private Members’ Bills are rarely enacted in the UK. If the Bill were enacted would it be valid? Should it be valid?

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Some members of the class may have read about yesterday’s vote by Unicco employees to strike against their employer which would affect the places where they actually carry out their work, including UM. The article in the Herald and this post at discourse.net make it clear that we have no idea what is going to happen. It seems that there may be roving picket lines at UM affecting different parts of the University at different times. And it also seems to be accepted that the picket lines will only affect their specific locations rather than the University as a whole. I have never heard of such a thing before (although it may have something to do with the strike action being secondary action). It all sounds very confusing.

Anyway, what I propose is this:

1. I will teach classes affected by pickets for the benefit of those students who choose to cross the lines.

2. I will not take attendance at such classes.

3. I will arrange classes in another location for those students who choose not to cross the line (although obviously at a different time which will cause inconvenience for which I apologise in advance).

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Edith Cresson’s actions as a Commissioner are being considered before the ECJ because the Commission is claiming that she should be deprived of her pension rights for breaches of duty under Art. 213 of the Treaty. Advocate General Geelhoed (whose food supplements opinion we just read) has concluded that she did breach her duties:

the Advocate General stresses that the various facts are symptomatic of a basic attitude indicating that she was willing, whilst in office as a Member of the Commission, to use that office to extend benefits to personal friends at the expense of the Community budget. He therefore concludes that Mrs Cresson is correctly accused of favouritism by the Commission, in breach of her obligations as a Commissioner.
As a result of this breach of obligations Advocate General Geelhoed states that a pecuniary sanction is appropriate. In his opinion, whilst the severity of the charges against Mrs Cresson warrant a full deprivation of pension rights a number of factors, including the lapse of time between her leaving office and proceedings being brought, the damage which has already occurred to her reputation and the general administrative culture in the Commission at the time mitigate against such a severe sanction. As a consequence of this he suggests that the Court deprive Mrs Cresson of 50% of her pension rights as of the date of the Court judgment.

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I have previously noted that Spain has argued that the Spanish language should be given greater prominence within the EU. And we have seen that the EU celebrates its linguistic diversity. Spain and the Council have now concluded an administrative arrangement to facilitate Spanish citizens communicating with EU institutions in their own language even if this is not Castilian (Spanish) provided that the language is recognised by the Spanish Constitution (Euskara, Catalan and Galician). In relation to written communications the Spanish citizens will send them to the Spanish Government for translation and forwarding to the EU institutions. Under certain circumstances Spanish representatives will be able to address the Council in a Spanish language other than Castilian (request made in advance, cost of translation borne by Spain). Spain will also provide certified translations of measures adopted by co-decision into the other languages and these will be linked to from the Council’s website with disclaimers stating that “those translations do not engage the responsibility of the Institutions of the Union and have no legal value”.

Meanwhile, more data suggesting that English is the dominant language in the EU.

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You can find this agreement (referred to in the Alliance for Natural Health Case) here.

Point 10 states:

10. The purpose of the recitals is to set out concise reasons for the chief provisions of the enacting terms, without reproducing or paraphrasing them. They shall not contain normative provisions or political exhortations.

Point 13 states:

13. Where appropriate, an article shall be included at the beginning of the enacting terms to define the subject matter and scope of the act.

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Story here.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has developed a pandemic influenza draft protocol for rapid response and containment. The WHO says:

The world is now closer to another influenza pandemic than at any time since 1968, hen the last of the previous century’s three pandemics began. While influenza pandemics are infrequent events, they are rightly feared as they spread very rapidly to affect all countries and cause abrupt and significant increases in morbidity. Neither the timing nor the severity of the next pandemic can be predicted, but severe pandemics in the past have resulted in tens of millions of deaths. As the SARS experience clearly demonstrated, the first influenza pandemic of the 21st century could have significant economic and social consequences that go well beyond the absolute impact on health.

This document illustrates that strategies for dealing with some problems have to be implemented at the global, regional (supranational), national and subnational levels.

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Next week we will consider the food supplements case. You will want to compare the approaches of the Advocate General’s opinion and of the ECJ’s judgment in the case. Which approach do you find more persuasive? Why did the ECJ not follow the same approach as the Advocate General in the case?

I know I said we would think about the food supplements directive and the doctrine of indirect effects next week. We will think about that issue, but later. I’m sending the next packet of materials to the Distribution Center today (these materials address the standing issue we have noted before in more detail and help to explain why the Alliance for Natural Foods had to wait to challenge the directive until the UK implemented the directive). We may not get to the next packet next week as there is a lot to think about in the food supplements cases.

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The EU Commission maintains a web page on the Food Supplements Directive. From this page you can access the Administrative Guidance on Submissions for Safety Evaluation of Substances added for Specific Nutritional Purposes in the Manufacture of Foods published in 2004, which applies to the list under the Food supplements Directive. The Guidance isn’t very detailed. There is also a list of dossiers submitted under Art. 4(5) of the directive.

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The Jean Monnet Chair, in cooperation with the Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence cordially invites you to guest lectures:

Conceptualizing European Integration: What kind of Constitution for Europe? Presentation by: Dr. Christiane Lemke

Followed by:

The Constitution: Plan D Presentation by: Tomas Gronberg

When: Monday, February 20, 2006, 1.25-3.55 pm
Where: Merrick Building, Room 307

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Swans in Germany now have avian flu. The EU is to adopt precautionary measures as it has in relation to the other Member States so far affected.

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