What are the regulations for food additives in Europe?

Germany

Food additives are defined in Community legislation as "any substance not normally consumed as a food in itself and not normally used as a characteristic ingredient of food whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for a technological purpose results in it or its by-products becoming directly or indirectly a component of such foods”.

In 1989, the European Community adopted a Framework Directive (89/107/EEC) which set out the criteria by which additives would be assessed and provided. All food additives must have not only a demonstrated useful purpose but also a thorough and rigorous scientific safety evaluation before they can be approved for use. At the European level, the bodies responsible for the safety assessment, authorization, control and labelling of preservatives and other additives are the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Commission, Parliament and Council. At the international level there is a Joint Expert Committee, from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), on Food Additives (JECFA).

Also read the recent questions and answers:

Can you inform me about the approval procedure for new food additives? Which acts and directives are used during this process? http://www.foodexperts.net/ask_the_expert/topten.php?action=showqa&id=204

How are new food additives evaluated in Europe?
http://www.foodexperts.org/safety-quality/food_additives.php?action=showqa&id=250

Backgrounder on foodadditives
http://www.foodexperts.org/safety-quality/food_additives.php