Mutual Recognition’s Failure in the Light of Free Movement of Food Supplements: Judgment of the CJEU, 27 April 2017, Noria Distribution SARL (Case C-672/15)

Abstract

The ECJ had to define the Member States’ room of manoeuvre on the delicate matter of non-harmonised technical rules, in the case at hand the maximum amounts of vitamins and minerals present in food supplements. Even though the EU legislator has developed a mutual recognition framework to avoid technical barriers to trade, businesses like Noria still faced them. In order to tackle the negative consequences of the different perceptions of appropriate standards and safety level between the Member States, the ECJ retained its well-established case law on administrative due process and human health derogation under Article 36 TFEU. Oddly, the Court did not exploit a useful legal tool – the Mutual Recognition Regulation – for disciplining Member States in their recourse of the ‘genuine risk to public health’ derogation. Is the omission of the Regulation unintentional or is it the proof of mutual recognition framework’s failure?