Following the media uproar caused by the marketing of Sniffy energy powder, the French Ministers of Labor and Consumer Affairs have issued a draft order suspending the marketing of products sold in the form of products intended for nasal consumption.
This draft order, which is of a general nature but actually concerns Sniffy energy powder, is essentially based on the risk of mimicry between the way Sniffy powder is consumed by inhalation and the way cocaine is taken.
Nevertheless, European law, consisting in this case of Directive 2015/1535 of September 9, 2015, provides for a procedure for notifying the European Commission of any draft technical regulation aimed in particular at restricting the marketing or use of a product under a so-called notification-in-brief procedure. The purpose of this procedure, which temporarily prevents the Member State from adopting the said technical rule, is to enable the Commission and the other Member States to check that the draft does not constitute an obstacle to the free movement of goods within the Union.
In principle, the Commission and the Member States have three months in which to issue detailed opinions and observations, or even to block the draft. However, the directive also provides for an emergency procedure in the case of a draft text referring to a serious and unforeseeable situation concerning the free movement of goods within the Union.
