Plants Containing Hydroxy-Anthracene Derivatives After the EU General Court's Judgments of November 2024

This article comments on the judgments of the General Court of the European Union dated 13 November 2024, which annulled Commission Regulation No. 2021/468 concerning botanical species containing hydroxyanthracene derivatives. The authors highlight the legal reasoning of the Court, which emphasized the importance of respecting the principle of legality in the implementation of Regulation (EC) No. 1925/2006 on the addition of certain substances to foods, particularly in cases where prohibitions are imposed on specific ‘components’ of ingredients or food preparations without a prior identification of a concrete risk threshold for human health. Furthermore, the article offers some considerations on the practical implications of the judgments, starting with a reference to the responsibility of food business operators (FBOs) to market only safe products. This responsibility cannot be inferred solely from the formal annulment of the regulation in question but must be assessed on a case-by-case basis in relation to concrete scientific evidence.