The EU has introduced massive regulations concerning medicinal herbs. ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1382135/Herbal-medicines-banned-EU-directive-comes-force.html ) Do these regulations influence possessing/using herbal medicines, or only selling them? I'm traveling to Ireland for a month this summer, and I was wondering if it will be legal for me to take along a few of my own teas/tinctures that I use regularly? Also, will it be legal for me to share them with/gift them to friends?
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Bromley, Kent,, UK
1829 posts
Here is a more informative article on the new regulations. The Daily Mail does like "shock horror" stories! As you will see you should have no problems with your teas. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/may/01/new-eu-rules-on-herbal-remedies Edit 1. I assumed that the teas do not contain any ingredients that may already be prohibited for other reasons. 2. More importantly, Eire is not the UK and because of the way EU law operates it may have a different interpretation of this EU law. How it works is that the EU issues a Directive (Law) and individual states draw up the detailed regulations on how the law should be put into practice in their jurisdictions. It is often surprising how this differs from country to country eg agreed exemptions from parts of a Directive. So if you are worried you will need to check with the Eire authorities.