Another bead on the chain. Food supplements are subject to food law, not the Medicines Act. For years, the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has severely fined the use of prohibited medical claims for food supplements under the Medicines Act. The Amsterdam District Court (judgment in Dutch) is now putting a stop to this as well, following recent rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union and the District Court of Oost-Brabant (in Dutch).

What is this all about? Nutramin sells dietary supplements on its website, apparently using a prohibited medical claim (the ruling does not specify which claim is involved). By using a prohibited medical claim, Nutramin presents the products as medicines, the NVWA reasoned. The bill: twice the amount of €27,000 for violation of the Medicines Act. 

Nutramin goes to court and a legal battle ensues. After all, the food law framework also contains its own ban on medical claims with much lower fines (€525 or €1,050). Which law takes precedence? The Medicines Directive provides the answer: if a product clearly meets the definition of a specific product category (e.g. food supplement) then that legislation applies, not the medicines legislation. 

The court determined that the products were clearly dietary supplements and then copped that therefore the medicine fines should be off the table. With this ruling, the net around the NVWA is closing more and more. In the future, things will have to be different. Food supplements will have to be assessed under food law. The Dutch Council of State will possibly give a final judgment on this issue this year (in another matter).

Not only the NVWA is proven wrong, but also the Dutch state. This is because the procedure took too long and the court holds the State responsible for this. The reasonable period for the objection and appeal phase is two years. This procedure took two years and seven months and therefore Nutramin receives compensation of €1,000.