Foodstuffs such as dietary supplements may be subject to amended procedure where there are concerns whether they meet the criteria for medicinal products.

Under an amendment to the Food Safety Act adopted by the Sejm, the manufacturer or distributor bringing a foodstuff to market could be required to obtain an opinion from the Medicinal Products Registration Office whether or not it meets the criteria for medicinal products.

The opinion would then be binding in proceedings before the sanitary inspection, which is not the case currently. This means that the opinion of the Registration Office could only be challenged by an appeal to the Administrative Court and not, as currently, by an appeal to the upper level of the sanitary inspection.

Subject to that right of appeal, any product found to meet the criteria for medicinal products by the Registrations Office must be withdrawn from the market.

The amendment has already been sent to the Senat, which only made minor changes. If these are approved by the Sejm, the draft will be sent to the President for signing.

The President may refuse to sign the Act or, if there are doubts whether it complies with the Constitution, send it to the Constitutional Tribunal.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.

The original publication date for this article was 31/12/2009.