A medicinal herbal tea classified as a traditional herbal medicinal product cannot, in principle, be marketed with the organic logo. The position may be otherwise where such an indication on the packaging has been approved by the competent authority on account of the beneficial effect of the organic production on the therapeutic characteristics of the medicinal product.
The German company SALUS markets a sage medicinal herbal tea. The packaging of that medicinal product bears the official organic production logo of the European Union. Competitor Twardy asked the German courts to prohibit SALUS from marketing medicinal herbal teas the packaging of which bears indications relating to the organic origin of the plants from which they are made.
The German court hearing the case submitted questions in that regard to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling. The CJEU in its decision C-618/23 – SALUS states that medicinal herbal teas such as those at issue, which must be regarded as traditional herbal medicinal products, cannot be marketed, in principle, with the organic logo. As medicinal products, they are covered exclusively by the EU rules on medicinal products and not by those relating to organic production and labelling of organic products. It is true that certain optional information may be included on the packaging of medicinal products, on the condition that it is useful to the patient and is not of a promotional nature. However, information relating to the organic production of the active substances of traditional herbal medicinal products does not satisfy that condition. Indeed, since such medicinal products can be purchased without a prescription, that information could directly lead to a decision to purchase on the part of the patient, without that information necessarily having any value as regards health. That being said, the competent authority may, in the context of a marketing authorisation procedure, find that active substances with therapeutic or preventive properties resulting from organic production have a beneficial effect on the therapeutic characteristics of a medicinal product.