1 Mozaffarian D. et al., “Global Burden of Diseases Nutrition and Chronic Diseases Expert Group. Global sodium consumption and death from cardiovascular causes”, The New England Journal of Medicine; 2014:371(7); and WHO Factsheet “Noncommunicable diseases”, 2015, available online at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/ (last accessed on 5 September 2016).

2 Lachat C. et al, “Diet and Physical Activity for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Policy Review”, PLOS Medicine 10(6): 2013; and Global Health Observatory (GHO) data, available at: http://www.who.int/gho/ncd/risk_factors/obesity_text/en/ (last accessed on 5 September 2016).

3 Liu S., Manson J., “Dietary Carbohydrates, Physical Inactivity, Obesity, and the ‘Metabolic Syndrome’ as Predictors of Coronary Heart Disease. Current Opinion in Lipidology”, 2001:12; and WHO Factsheet, “Obesity and overweight”, 2003, available at http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/media/en/gsfs_obesity.pdf (last accessed on 5 September 2016).

4 “World Health Organization. Global strategy on diet, physical activity and health”, available at http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/strategy/eb11344/strategy_english_web.pdf (last accessed on 5 September 2016).

5 Hurt, R. et al., “The Obesity Epidemic: Challenges, Health Initiatives, and Implications for Gastroenterologists.” Gastroenterology & Hepatology 6.12,2010.

6 WHO Global Infobase, available at https://apps.who.int/infobase/, based on Ono T., Guthold, R. and Strong K., “WHO Global Comparable Estimates”(2005).

7 Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, OJ 2011 L 304/18.

8 Article 30(7) of the FIR requires that “[b]y 13 December 2014, the Commission, taking into account scientific evidence and experience acquired in Member States, shall submit a report on the presence of trans fats in foods and in the overall diet of the Union population. […] The Commission shall accompany this report with a legislative proposal, if appropriate”.

9 Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council regarding trans fats in foods and in the overall diet of the Union population, COM(2015) 619 final.

10 Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods, OJ 2006 L 404/9.

11 Article 4 of the NHCR provides that “the Commission shall establish specific nutrient profiles, including exemptions, which food or certain categories of food must comply with in order to bear nutrition or health claims”.

12 Article 4 of the NHCR foresees 19 January 2009 as a deadline for the Commission to establish nutrient profiles.

13 The NHCR is based on Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which provides the legal basis for measures aimed at ensuring the functioning of the internal market and free movement of goods. Conversely, nutrient profiles arguably pursue objectives linked to health protection, which has prompted actors contrary to nutrient profiles to argue that the relevant provisions in the NHCR lack the necessary legal basis.

14 WHO Regional Office for Europe. Nutrient Profile Model. Available at http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/270716/Nutrient-Profile-Model_Version-for-Web.pdf?ua=1 (last accessed on 5 September 2016).

15 EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition, and Allergies (NDA), “Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for fats, including saturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids, and cholesterol”, EFSA Journal, 2010. Available online at http://www.efsa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/scientific_output/files/main_documents/1461.pdf (last accessed on 5 September 2016).

16 Downloadable at http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/trs916/en/ (last accessed on 5 September 2016).

17 The EU's perspective contrasts with that of the US. In June 2015, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found that “…there is no longer a consensus among qualified experts that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), which are the primary dietary source of industrially-produced trans fatty acids (IP-TFA), are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for any use in human food”. Accordingly, partially hydrogenated oils will be phased-out from the US food supply by June 2018, although operators will be able to apply for approval of specific uses of such oils.

18 Denmark's Executive Order No. 160 of 11 March 2003 on the Content of Trans Fatty Acids in Oils and Fats.

19 “Commission drops Danish trans fat case”, EU Food Law Weekly; 23 March 2007. Available online at http://www.eurofoodlaw.com/resources/pdfarchive/?pdfYear=2007 (last accessed on 5 September 2016).

20 Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark and Danish Technical University, “Danish data on trans fatty acids in foods”, 2014. Available at http://www.foedevarestyrelsen.dk/Publikationer/Alle%20publikationer/2014004.pdf (last accessed on 5 September 2016).

21 Austria's Ministerial Decree No. 267 of 20 August 2009 on trans fat content in food.

22 Hungary's Decree 71/2013 (XI. 20.) on the highest permitted amount of trans fats in food products.

23 Carreño, I., “Hungary and Belgium Intend Limiting Trans Fats in Foodstuffs, as Done by other EU Member States”, European Journal of Risk Regulation, 4/2013.

24 Naturally occurring TFAs in fats of animal origin are not covered by the legislation.

25 Draft law amending Law of 24 January 1977 on the protection of consumers’ health concerning food and other products, and Royal Decree of 8 January 1992 on nutrition labelling of foodstuffs, in order to limit the content of trans fatty acids, coconut oil and palm oil in foodstuffs, 5-2008.

26 Other drafts envisaging a maximum of 2g of TFAs per 100g of oil or fat have been proposed in Belgium, although none have been adopted. However, recent reports suggest that a new proposal may soon be tabled in this country to outright prohibit “trans fats” in foods.

27 While such principles are enshrined in all relevant WTO Agreements, should dispute settlement proceedings be triggered, it would need to be determined which specific Agreement would be applicable to the measure at stake (in particular, the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, the WTO Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures or the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade – hereinafter, GATT).

28 Article 34 of the TFEU.

29 Inasmuch as, e.g., Eastern European areas would be significantly more strongly affected (see, e.g., Coombes, R., “Trans fats: chasing a global ban”, British Medical Journal 2011; 343.

30 COM(2007) 279 final.

31 Arguably, it is not common knowledge that only partially hydrogenated oils contain TFAs.

32 The nutrition declaration is mandatory as of 13 December 2016.

33 In addition, it may include, inter alia, the amounts of monounsaturates and poly-unsaturates.

34 This is in contrast with the rules in the US, which, since 2003, require that TFAs be included in the nutrition facts (Federal Register - 68 FR 41433 July 11, 2003).

35 An example of such alternative wording could be “[p]artly hydrogenated vegetable oil (contains trans fats)”.

36 Article 35 of the FIR.

37 Carreño, I., “The European Commission Considers the UK Traffic Light Nutrition – Labelling Scheme as Voluntary Nutritional Information and Not as a ‘Non-Beneficial’ Nutrition Claim”, European Journal of Risk Regulation 1/2014.

38 UK Department of Health, et al., “Guide to creating a front of pack (FoP) nutrition label for pre-packed products sold through retail outlets”, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/300886/2902158_FoP_Nutrition_2014.pdf (last accessed on 5 September 2016).

39 Salas B. and Simoes B. G., “The European Commission initiates infringement proceedings against the UK over its ‘traffic light’ nutrition labelling scheme”, European Journal of Risk Regulation Issue 4/2014.

40 Article 5 of the French draft Public Health Law (Projet de loi de modernisation de notre système de santé) contains language enabling the Government to regulate voluntary “traffic light” nutrition labelling schemes in a manner that, although their use remains voluntary, operators who wish to use it need to abide by certain provisions.

41 Decreto No. 13 de 16 Abril 2015 que modifica Decreto Supremo No. 977, de 1966, Reglamento Sanitario de los Alimentos, Diario Oficial de la Republica de Chile, 26 de Junio de 2015, I No 41.193.

42 Carreño, I.; “Chile's Black STOP Sign for Foods High in Fat, Salt or Sugar”, European Journal of Risk Regulation Issue 4/2015.

43 Alemanno, A. and Carreño, I., “Fat Taxes in Europe and Beyond - a Legal and Policy Analysis under EU and WTO Law”, European Food and Feed Law Review 2/2013.

44 Available at http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/253727/64wd14e_FoodNutAP_140426.pdf (last accessed on 5 September 2016).

45 Finland's Act no. 1127/2010.

46 Hungary's Public Health Product Tax (commonly known as “chips tax”).

47 Denmark's Fremsat den 19. januar 2011 af skatteministeren (Troels Lund Poulsen) Forslag til Lov om afgift af mattet fedt i visse fodevarer (Fedtafgiftsloven).

48 Case SA.33159.

49 Article 110 of the TFEU.

50 Article XI and III:2, respectively, of the GATT.