Regulation 258/1997 also includes a simplified procedure, which is an exception to the ordinary procedure described, and known as NOTIFICATION and/or APPLICATION FOR SUBSTANTIAL EQUIVALENCE.

It only applied to food or food ingredients:

• Consistent with, or proceeding from, micro-organisms, fungi, algae or obtained from these;
• Consistent with, or proceeding from, animals and plants reproduced under unusual conditions;
• Obtained from new processes that affect the nutritional value, its metabolism or the presence of unwanted substances;

and which are substantially equivalent to food or ingredients in existence, regarding composition, nutritional value, metabolism, their intended use, and content of unwanted substances, based on available and generally recognised scientific data, or an opinion issued by one of the competent assessment bodies in Member States.

Official List from the Directorate General of Health and Consumer Protection of the European Commission