WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.130
15April 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-1619)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: SWITZERLAND
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Federal Office ofPublic Health
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbe
indicated ifdifferent from above:
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Food supplements
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Federal Medicines
Act: Amendment oftheFederal Food Lawof9October 1992
6. Description ofcontent: Inthecoming revision oftheFederal Food Legislation, anew
category, theso-called food supplements willberegulated intheFederal Food Law.
Food supplements areproducts thataretaken mainly with theobject ofimproving
well-being andhealth andthatareneither foodnormedicines.
7. Objective andrationale: Theaimistocreate aregulation forso-called borderline
products thatcannot bedetermined definitely asneither medicines norfoodproducts.
Under thepresent regulations allproducts have toconform toeither ofthese two
categories.
Thenewregulation willprevent suchborderline products from being forced into
fulfilling therequirements ofoneofthetwoexisting regulations without considering
theircomposition andparticularly theirfunction.
8. Relevant documents: Federal Food Lawof9October 1992. Regulations governing the
implementation oftheactwillbeissued atalaterdateintheform ofdecrees. Same
drafttextasfortheFederal Medicines Act(seepages 33and34).
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:1July2000
10. Final dateforcomments: 9June1997
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: