Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 provides that health claims made on foods are prohibited unless they are authorised by the Commission in accordance with that Regulation and included in a list of permitted claims.

Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 provides that applications for authorisations of health claims are to be submitted by food business operators to the national competent authority of a Member State. The national competent authority is to forward valid applications to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), hereinafter referred to as ‘the Authority’, for a scientific assessment, as well as to the Commission and the Member States for information.

The Commission is to decide on the authorisation of health claims taking into account the opinion delivered by the Authority.

In order to stimulate innovation, health claims which are based on newly developed scientific evidence and/or which include a request for the protection of proprietary data shall undergo an accelerated type of authorisation.

All the justifiable information provided by the applicant has been assessed by the Commission and it is considered that the requirements laid down in Article 21(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 are fulfilled for the study claimed as proprietary. Accordingly, the scientific data and other information included in that study may not be used for the benefit of a subsequent applicant for a period of five years from the date of entry into force of this Regulation, under the conditions laid down in Article 21(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006.

One of the objectives of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 is to ensure that health claims are truthful, clear and reliable and useful to the consumer, and that the wording and the presentation are taken into account in that respect. Therefore, where the wording of claims used by the applicant has the same meaning for consumers as that of an authorised health claim, because they demonstrate the same relationship that exists between a food category, a food or one of its constituents and health, they should be subject to the same conditions of use as those listed in the Annex to this Regulation.

In accordance with Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, the Register of nutrition and health claims containing all authorised health claims should be updated in order to take into account this Regulation.

Since the applicant claims protection of proprietary data, it is considered appropriate to restrict the use of this claim in favour of the applicant for a period of five years. However, the authorisation of this claim restricted for the use of an individual operator should not prevent other applicants from applying for authorisation to use the same claim in case the application is based on data and studies other than those protected under Article 21 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006.

The comments from the applicant received by the Commission pursuant to Article 16(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 have been considered when setting the measures provided for in this Regulation.

Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 should therefore be amended accordingly.

The Member States have been consulted,