3 October, 2017

Registration of food supplements in Spain

As we indicated in our post on how to notify food supplements, in Spain and in Europe food supplements are notified, not registered. However, on many occasions we refer to notification as registration.

This is why we have drafted this post. For registration of food supplements in Spain, such as sports nutrition products, you have to first communicate this placing on the market to the health authorities in Spain. To process the registration, you have to differentiate between businesses with registered address outside of Spain and those with an address in Spain.

For businesses not located in the European Union, they have two possibilities for registering food supplements:

1st.- The products are directly notified in Spain to the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AECOSAN) in Madrid because the business does not have an address in Spain and the product comes from a third (non-EU) country. To this end it will have to pay a fee of 125.63€ per product (each notification can include the different flavours for that item and the different weights by providing all the labels).

2nd.- Notifying through a distributor in Spain that has a registered address. The company name and registered address that must appear on the label (even in very small letters) must be that of the company in Spain. There are many brands that work in this way in Spain. This company will have to be entered in the Food Safety Registry.

In this case, instead of notifying AECOSAN in Madrid, notification has to be made to the Autonomous Region where the Spanish company has its registered address. The fee will depend on the Autonomous Region where the product is notified, as we indicated in our post on how much it costs to notify a food supplement.

If the company that is about to register a food supplement has its registered address in Spain, it will notify the health authorities of the Autonomous Region where it has its registered address. In both cases, it will additionally be necessary to submit a document accrediting that the product is already being sold in another European Union country (certificate of free sale).

At LegaleGo we work with notifications or registrations of food supplements from European Union countries. We are currently notifying in Portugal, Ireland, France, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Croatia, etc. As a consultancy in food safety specializing in the registration of food supplements and comprising teams of lawyers and technicians, we take care of:

• (i) Checking the label and adapting to regulations.
• (II) Notifying in another European Union country.
• (iii) Notifying the placing of food supplements on the Spanish market.
• (iv) Answering any requirement or observation by the health authority

We can help you about registration of food supplements in Spain.