The case concerns an administrative order issued against a company that supplies food for special medical purposes in Sweden. According to the order, the company was required to remove certain information regarding energy value and actual amounts of nutrients from the labelling on the front of its packaging containing such food. According to the municipal committee that issued the order, the information constituted unauthorised repetition of particulars included in the mandatory nutrition declaration. The company, for its part, argued that the information constituted a necessary supplement to the mandatory nutrition declaration and that it therefore did not constitute unauthorised repetition.
The case concerns the interpretation of two articles in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/128 supplementing Regulation (EU) No. 609/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards specific compositional and information requirements for food for special medical purposes. The Supreme Administrative Court therefore requested a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice to clarify how the two articles should be interpreted.
The European Court of Justice held that particulars regarding the energy value and amount of various nutrients constitutes a repetition of the information contained in the mandatory nutrition declaration and not a description of the food’s properties and/or characteristics which supplements the mandatory nutrition declaration.
The Supreme Administrative Court therefore concluded that the order was legally based and rejected the company’s appeal.