A new DGCCRF tool on usable health claims

In France, The DGCCRF is a service of the Ministry of Economy. This service is responsible for ensuring that companies comply with consumer law.

French authorities has published in September 2022 a new tool listing usable health claims.

The authorized or on hold claims have been grouped together in an excel file, with a French translation proposal for on hold claims, in order to allow operators to use them more easily.

This file, accompanied by instructions for use, classifies certain wordings of on hold claims according to a color code:

– Therapeutic claim, the claims must not attribute properties of preventing, treating or curing a human disease

– Nutrition claim

– Claim too general, to be accompanied by a more specific claim

– Incomprehensible claim, to be rephrased

– Beauty claim

A major change should be noted in the position of the French Authorities: the conditions of use submitted for on hold claims are not included. For France, it is now possible not to respect them subject to having scientific justifications making the link between the plant (and the way it is used: part of plant, type of extract, etc.) and the claim. This obligation of scientific justification is not new; in order to use an on hold health claim the product must comply with Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. The use shall only be permitted if nutritional or physiological effect is justified, as established by generally accepted scientific evidence.

It should be noted that the translation was done by an automatic translator and the positions indicated by the French Authorities are not necessarily shared by the other Member States.

As reminder, for more than 10 years, we have carried out this work of French translation and identification of therapeutic claims in our digital solutions Supplements R&D Insight and Supplements Compliance.

On hold health claims on your products sold in France: prepare your scientific files!

The obligation of scientific justification of on hold health claims is not new, however due to the new publication of the DGCCRF, an increase in controls on the subject is to be expected.

FoodChain ID can support you in this change. This is an interesting opportunity in the formulation of new effective products, for which it is now possible to derogate from the submitted conditions of use of the on hold claims, insofar as the choice of ingredients is supported by science. We can support you in these formulation stages in order to identify the right ingredients allowing you to use the most interesting claims, but also for the regulatory validation of your products.

Files of scientific justifications must be available for all your products in case of control by the authorities. Compliance with the conditions of use of the on hold claims is not sufficient to justify your products. With more than 15 years of experience in writing these files, we can assist you in justifying the efficacy of your products and writing your scientific files, in order to avoid possible problems in the event of control by the DGCCRF.