Natural Health Products Industry And Competition From The Channel Islands

EDM number 593 in 2009-10, proposed by Brian Iddon on 13/01/2010.
Categorised under the topics of Food and Medicine.

That this House welcomes the sympathetic consideration given by Ministers to representations made by right hon. and hon. Members on behalf of the natural health products industry about problems with unfair and illegal competition from the Channel Islands; further welcomes in particular the Government's considered view that the Nutrition and Health Claim Regulation, the Food Supplements Directive and the Medicines Directive do apply to the Channel Islands under Protocol 3 of the Treaty of Accession; further welcomes the progress made by Guernsey's adoption of its medicines legislation; hopes that appropriate attention will now be given to enforcement; remains concerned that businesses from the Channel Islands continue to market directly to the United Kingdom mainland products which contain illegal ingredients or which are promoted using illegal claims thus jeopardising consumer safety; observes that this situation will not be resolved as long as the required food legislation is not implemented in either Guernsey or Jersey; notes that in many cases such products also benefit from low value consignment relief and avoid liability for value added tax, seriously undermining the competitiveness of responsible UK suppliers; encourages Ministers to remain actively engaged in addressing these issues; and calls on the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the Food Standards Agency, Royal Mail, the Advertising Standards Authority, and trading standards officers to take urgent enforcement action and to continue to engage with the authorities in the Channel Islands to secure the effective implementation of the necessary legislation without further delay.

This motion has been signed by a total of 27 MPs.