L 14/8 Official Journal of the European Union 18.1.2014 REGULATIONS COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 40/2014 of 17 January 2014 authorising a health claim made on foods, other than those referring to the reduction of disease risk and to children’s development and health and amending Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 (Text with EEA relevance) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 19242006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods (1), and in particular Article 18(4) thereof, Whereas: Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 provides that health claims made on food are prohibited unless they are auth- orised by the Commission in accordance with that Regu- lation and included in a list of permitted claims. Pursuant to Article 13(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, Commission  Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 (?) was adopted, which established a list of permitted health claims made on foods other than those referring to the reduction of disease risk and to children’s development and health Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 also provides that appli- cations for authorisations of health claims areto be submitted by food business operators to the national competent authority of a Member State. The national competent authority is to forward valid applications to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), hereinafter (1) OJ L 404, 30.12.2006, p. 9. (®) Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 of 16 May 2012 estab- lishing a list of permitted health claims made on foods, other than those referring to the reduction of disease risk and to children’s development and health (O] L 136, 25.5.2012, p. 1). referred to as ‘the Authority’, for a scientific assessment, as well as to the Commission and the Member States for information. The Commission is to decide on the authorisation of health claims taking into account the opinion delivered by the Authority. In order to stimulate innovation, health claims which are based on newly developed scientific evidence and/or which include a request for the protection of proprietary data shall undergo an accelerated type of authorisation. Following an application from Nordic Sugar AJS, submitted pursuant to Article 13(5) of Regulation (EC) No 19242006, the Authority was required to deliver an opinion on a health claim related to the effects of sugar beet fibre on the increase of faecal bulk (Question No EFSA-Q-2011-00972) (}). The claim proposed by the applicant was worded as follows: ‘Sugar beet fibre increases faecal bulk’. On 8 December 2011, the Commission and the Member States received the scientific opinion from the Authority which concluded that on the basis of the data presented, a cause and effect relationship had been established between the consumption of sugar beet fibre and the claimed effect. Accordingly, a health claim reflecting this conclusion should be considered as complying with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 and should be included in the Union list of permitted claims, established by Regulation (EU) No 432/2012. (%) EFSA Journal 2011;9(12):2468.