Written question asked by Bill Olner (Labour) on Tuesday, 10 June 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 12 June 2008. It was answered by Baroness Primarolo (Labour) on Tuesday, 17 June 2008 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dietary Supplements: Jersey

Question: (2) when he next plans to discuss with the government of Jersey their obligations under protocol 3 of the Treaty of Accession to comply with European legislation on the free movement of trade in health products, with particular reference to the medicines legislation, the Food Supplements Directive and the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation.

Answer: A meeting was held between officials of the Crown Dependencies and those of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and other interested United Kingdom Government Departments on 11 April 2008. At this meeting, officials representing the Government of Jersey indicated that a major update of food safety legislation was underway in Jersey and that both the Food Supplements Directive and the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation are to be implemented as part of this exercise.Officials of the Government of Jersey have undertaken to keep the FSA appraised of progress in updating Jersey food safety legislation and to work with companies on the island to address the issue of the sale of food supplements which are illegal in the UK.There are no current plans for further discussions with the Government of Jersey on the Food Supplements Directive or the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency will be arranging discussions with the Government of Jersey on the implementation of the medicines directive in Jersey during the course of 2008.

Secondary information