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European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance

ESSNA

To ensure the development of an appropriate and balanced regulatory framework for sports nutrition products; To inform Members of on-going legislative developments to ensure compliance; To promote reputable sports nutrition brands in the media; To address the issue of non-compliant products tarnishing the reputation of the sector; To support continued independent scientific research into sports nutrition and into issues relating to quality and safety

Lobbying Activity

Response to Digital Fairness Act

24 Oct 2025

While social media has played a key role in driving the growth of the sports nutrition industry, it has also introduced risks, with some influencers promoting non-compliant products with unauthorised ingredients and unauthorised medicinal or health claims. Such practices can have serious consequences for consumers, whose health and safety may be compromised, and for responsible sports nutrition companies complying with EU rules, which are placed at an unfair competitive disadvantage. ESSNA therefore warmly welcomes the European Commissions initiative to introduce a Digital Fairness Act and supports the importance of tackling harmful online practices. To address these risks, ESSNA calls for stronger enforcement of EU food law on social media platforms, the development of an EU-wide code of conduct for influencer marketing, and enhanced consumer guidance and digital literacy to help citizens critically assess health and nutrition claims. Please find further details of ESSNA's position attached.
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Response to Single Market Strategy 2025

31 Jan 2025

The European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA) welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the European Commissions public consultation on the Single Market Strategy 2025. Please find attached our position paper which outlines ESSNAs key areas of concern and proposals for the Single Market Strategy 2025
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Response to Review of the requirements for packaging and feasibility of measures to prevent packaging waste

24 Apr 2023

This submission is made by the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA), the trade association representing the voice of the active and sports nutrition sector in Europe. ESSNA and its members are already taking a leading role in accelerating the industry's transition to sustainability, as manifested in the industry's Sustainability Pledge: Lifting the Planet. The prevention of packaging and packaging waste constitutes a key element of the Sustainability Pledge, as members pledge to continue to invest in innovative and circular packaging for the sector. With this in mind, ESSNA: 1) Welcomes the Commission's proposal for more harmonisation of packaging and waste rules, especially regarding the provision of on-label information and EPR schemes and calls for further harmonisation of waste management and sorting infrastructure. 2) Invites the Commission to ensure that any rules on the reduction of transport packaging for e-commerce do not negatively impact the safety of products to avoid damaging products and creating further food waste. 3) Urges the Commission to ensure that appropriate infrastructure and technology are developed to allow the cost-effective return of products in light of the suggested reuse targets for beverage containers. 4) Welcomes the suggested recyclability requirements but invites the Commission to take into consideration the recycling challenges encountered with complex packaging materials. 5) Urges the Commission to ensure the industry's accessibility to affordable secondary raw materials to ensure the uptake of recycled content into its packaging. Food safety and the shelf life of food products must also be safeguarded when considering recyclability requirements. Please find ESSNA's full position attached.
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Response to Import conditions and border controls of trade samples and certain composite products

23 Nov 2021

This submission is made by the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA), the trade association representing organisations involved in the manufacturing and distribution of sports nutrition products, sports supplements and functional ingredients across Europe. Our members include smaller specialist brands, suppliers of ingredients, sports nutrition retailers, and companies representing multi sports nutrition brands. ESSNA welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the consultation on border controls for food – import conditions and border controls of trade samples and certain composite products (Draft Delegated Regulation amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/625 as regards Combined Nomenclature (CN) and Harmonised System codes and import conditions of certain composite products) which will introduce changes to import conditions for Vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 is widely used in sports nutrition due to its role in helping maintain normal bone and muscle function, key components of an active lifestyle for which consumers seek supplementation through sports nutrition products. ESSNA and its members are concerned that changes introduced with the new Regulation will make the importation of Vitamin D3 and related products costly and administratively burdensome, significantly impacting the supply of Vitamin D3 in Europe and damaging consumers and industry. In particular: • The re-classification of Vitamin D3 from chemical to product of animal origin (POAO) means that all the requirements for POAO under the EU Animal Health Regulations will apply to this product and also to its starting material - cholesterol – including the need for their entry into the EU to be accompanied by an export health certificate and Private Attestations (in the case of composite products). This is disproportionate given the history of safe use of Vitamin D3 and the extensive chemical processes involved in its manufacturing. • Most manufacturing of Vitamin D3 and its source ingredient (cholesterol from lanolin) for the EU market takes place in China, India and Japan – three countries not authorised to import products from ovine origin to the EU. The classification of Vitamin D3 as POAO will therefore significantly impact the supply of Vitamin D3 and prevent consumers from accessing these products. In light of the above, ESSNA believes that vitamin D3 should remain imported into the EU as an organic chemical, i.e., as a product of chemical synthesis (CN Code 2936), and asks the Commission to consider the introduction of exemptions from the need for border control checks for both cholesterol and Vitamin D3 under Article 48 (h) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625. More thorough feedback on the Draft Delegated Regulation is available in the attached document.
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Response to Digital Services Act: deepening the Internal Market and clarifying responsibilities for digital services

31 Mar 2021

This submission is made by the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA), the trade association representing the voice of the sports and active nutrition sector in Europe. ESSNA welcomes the opportunity to provide comments to the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation on a Single Market for Digital Services (Digital Services Act) and amending Directive 2000/31/EC. ESSNA supports the European Commission’s objective, in the context of the DSA, to create a safer digital space in which the fundamental rights of all users of digital services are protected. ESSNA believes that the DSA provides an opportunity to move to a safer online environment for consumers and industry, with the potential to tackle the sale and promotion of non-compliant and counterfeited products online. The industry should do its part to contribute to these objectives and ESSNA is of view that the industry role in promoting better compliance online should interact with certain provisions, further explicated below, outlined in the DSA, to further ensure consumer protection online. For instance, ESSNA runs a targeted award-winning campaign to improve consumer safety and reduce unfair competition by addressing the issue of non-compliant sports nutrition products, particularly online. However, ESSNA believes that more clarifications, further detailed below, are needed to ensure that European consumers and businesses are equally protected online and offline against repeat offenders and rogue traders, especially those established outside the EU and not directly subject to the Union law. Additionally, in the context of establishing a powerful transparency and accountability framework for online platforms and lead to fairer and more open digital markets, further obligations for online platforms to inform their customers when they have purchased a counterfeit or illegal product should be included. More detailed feedback on the DSA is available in the attached position paper.
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Response to Setting of nutrient profiles

3 Feb 2021

This submission is made by the European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA), the trade association representing the voice of the active and sports nutrition sector in Europe. We welcome the opportunity to provide comments to the Inception Impact Assessment (IIA) on the Proposal for a revision of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers (FIC). ESSNA supports the European Commission’s objectives to facilitate the shift to healthy and sustainable diets, tackle obesity and reduce the environmental and climate footprint of the EU food system. These objectives are in line with ESSNA’s remit and the industry’s goal to complement consumers’ balanced diets and support healthy lifestyles while promoting sustainability and fair practices. However, ESSNA would like to make some key considerations in the context of this consultation, to ensure that any amendments to the FIC Regulation as proposed in the Commission’s IIA do not have inadvertent negative effects on consumers and the industry. 1) ESSNA believes that the Food Information to Consumers Regulation and the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation provide sufficient information for consumers to make informed choices. This is particularly true for some specialist sectors and in particular the sports nutrition sector. 2) Food intended for sportspeople has a specific target market. Consumers of these products know what they are looking for and have generally a good understanding of nutrition. Sports nutrition products are intended for use by adults who lead an active lifestyle, are specifically formulated for this target market and are catered to the specific dietary needs of people performing exercise. Therefore, contrary to the aims of the Commission’s proposal, nutrient profiles would not improve the understanding of sports nutrition food products but would rather penalise consumers and prevent them from making healthy, informed choices. 3) Adding to this, while emphasis on consumer information is important, the Commission should continue to encourage Europeans to lead active lifestyles and promote nutrition education. The importance of these have become even more clear during the COVID-19 pandemic. 4) While ESSNA understands the advice to the general population is to reduce nutrients such as sugars and salts, these serve a specific purpose during high intensity exercise and their benefits are well documented in scientific literature. Therefore, it is important for the European Commission to consider that appropriate exemptions are included for food intended for sportspeople. 5) The Commission should also consider reviewing other provisions in the FIC which may improve consumer understanding of certain nutrients, for example by looking into the definition of protein. In this regard, ESSNA believes that appropriate amendments to protein labelling/definition (Annex 1 of Regulation 1169/2011 on the provision of FIC) are also needed, as the current definition of protein allows less scrupulous companies to declare a higher protein content, whilst their products are in fact formulated using nitrogen containing ingredients of lower cost and lower nutritional value than proteins. This misleads consumers and distorts the market for food business at a time when protein is becoming an increasingly popular ingredient with demonstrated benefits. 6) Finally, the Commission should promote a uniform interpretation of the FIC across Member States, as this as given rise to a number of issues for industry and consumers. This lack of harmonisation across Member States represents a source of concern for the food industry, and specifically the sports nutrition sector as it promotes market fragmentation while also confusing consumers. More information is available in the supporting document on: ESSNA’s response to the Inception Impact Assessment on the Proposal for a revision of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information
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Response to Farm to Fork Strategy

13 Mar 2020

The European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA), the trade association representing the sports nutrition sector across Europe, welcomes the publication of the F2F Strategy (F2F) and the European Green Deal as unique opportunities to: • Promote truly fairer, more democratic and more sustainable food systems • Evaluate and revise current legislation on marketing standards in order to increase the sustainability of food production, and to harmonise and simplify the regulatory framework • Improve food labelling system so that citizens can make informed and healthy choices • Contribute to new and sustainable sources of nutrients, such as proteins, for sports nutrition, especially to be aligned with the overall vision. Taking into consideration the main strands the F2F will focus on, ESSNA considers that the F2F should expand further on the points below. Food fraud The EU has one of the highest food safety standards in the world – largely thanks to the solid body of EU legislation in place, which ensures that food is safe for consumers. However, with increasing international trade and global, cross-border e-commerce, unlawful and non-compliant products still find their ways into the EU. To this end, EU legislation is put in place to protect consumers and ensure businesses compete fairly across the bloc. This is only effective if these laws are enforced adequately to ensure that everybody complies. However, more action is needed on this front to ensure the correct enforcement of legislation at Member State level. The F2F should therefore address the need to secure better recognition of legislation, as well as a more uniformed exchange of information with different stakeholders, while ensuring more investigative capacity across EU Member States and non-EU countries, and focusing on prevention, detection and better coordination with all the actors involved. Food labelling A high level of consumer protection through consumer information is key. Healthy choices and healthy lifestyles for European citizens come also through clear food labelling and the ability for food business operators to speak about the benefits of their products. While ensuring clear food labelling and accessible information, the F2F needs to address the need for a proportionate, consistent and evidence-based assessment and authorisation of health claims as well as current evaluation on Health claims, and particularly on botanicals. ESSNA will also contribute to the definition of an EU-wide approach to front-of-pack nutrition labelling. Transition towards a healthy, sustainable diet Promoting good health is an integral part of the work the European institutions need to undertake for smart and inclusive growth. Keeping people healthy and active for longer has a positive impact on productivity and competitiveness, and benefits society as a whole. Sports nutrition products can play a key role in supporting these efforts, by complementing balanced diets and promoting active lifestyles. While ESSNA continues to support fully the inclusion of sports food in the General Food Law, ESSNA believes that the F2F represents an opportunity to recognise the dietary needs of sportspeople. Additionally, ESSNA calls on policymakers to put more efforts in promoting consumer awareness and education on food, nutrition, healthy diets and lifestyles. Food waste The F2F will contribute to achieving a circular economy, aiming to reduce the environmental impact of the food processing and retail sectors by taking action on transport, storage, packaging and food waste. ESSNA is fully supportive of this initiative as the sports nutrition sector has been a champion in raising awareness on food waste and creating educational initiatives to drive behaviours towards a sustainable future.
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Response to Implementing act on the Union list

2 Nov 2017

The European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA) would like to thank the European Commission for opening a consultation on the draft implementing act on the Union list for novel foods. We would like to share the following comments which we would like the European Commission to take into account to improve clarify for businesses: 1. Food supplements As the text is currently formulated, businesses and authorities may be confused as to what extent novel foods can be legally used in food supplements. Indeed, it appears that novel foods indicated in the Union list without the specified category "Food Supplements as defined in Directive 2002/46/EC" cannot be used in food supplements. However, in several cases, the foods, when used in food supplements, are not novel and fall under article 3, par. 2, letter a, point x of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283) on novel foods, which defines novel food. This should, therefore, be clarified in the draft text. The text could be clarified by adding the following text – or a similar statement – to the preamble: "A food used before 15 May 1997 exclusively as, or in, a food supplement, as defined in Directive 2002/46/EC, is permitted to be placed on the market within the Union after that date for the same use, as it should not be considered to be a novel food. As a consequence, some of such foods may be included in the Union list without a reference to food supplements. Nonetheless, they can continue to be placed on the market" 2. Trans-resveratrol We would like to ask the Commission to clarify what types of Trans-resveratrol is included here, e.g. plant sourced, synthetic, and microbial. The draft implementing act currently implies that trans-resveratrol is not sourced from plants. Therefore, the entry for "Trans-resveratrol" could be amended to specify that reference is made specifically to synthetic resveratrol ("Trans-resveratrolo(synthetic source)"), which is also in line with EFSA’s scientific opinion*. 3. Union list and novel food determination The implementing act should also reflect the Court of Justice of the EU’s judgement that refusing authorisation to place on the EU market a food or food ingredient is not binding on any persons other than the person or persons whom that decision specifies as its addressees (Case C-327/09). Specifically, it should be clarified that inclusion in the Union list per se is not definite proof that a food is novel, and that the Union list is not an act within the meaning of article 4, par. 4 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283) on novel foods. It also does not constitute information under article 7, par. 3, which relates to the procedure for determination of novel food status. Therefore, we would suggest to add the following clarification to the preamble: "Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 lays down basic principles on the procedure for the determination of novel food status. The Union list does not per se constitute a determination of novel food status". *https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/4368
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