Notification Detail
Draft Royal Decree on the indication of the origin of milk used as raw material on the labelling of milk and milk products
Notification Number: 2017/421/E (Spain )
Date received: 05/09/2017
End of Standstill:
07/12/2017
| Message 002
Communication from the Commission - TRIS/(2017) 02348 Directive (EU) 2015/1535 Translation of the message 001 Notification: 2017/0421/E No abre el plazo - Nezahajuje odklady - Fristerne indledes ikke - Kein Fristbeginn - Viivituste perioodi ei avata - Καμμία έναρξη προθεσμίας - Does not open the delays - N'ouvre pas de délais - Non fa decorrere la mora - Neietekmē atlikšanu - Atidėjimai nepradedami - Nem nyitja meg a késéseket - Ma’ jiftaħx il-perijodi ta’ dawmien - Geen termijnbegin - Nie otwiera opóźnień - Não inicia o prazo - Neotvorí oneskorenia - Ne uvaja zamud - Määräaika ei ala tästä - Inleder ingen frist - Не се предвижда период на прекъсване - Nu deschide perioadele de stagnare - Nu deschide perioadele de stagnare. (MSG: 201702348.EN) 1. Structured Information Line MSG 002 IND 2017 0421 E EN 05-09-2017 E NOTIF 2. Member State E 3. Department Responsible Subdirección General de Asuntos Industriales, Energéticos, de Transportes y Comunicaciones, y de Medio Ambiente Dirección General de Coordinación de Políticas Comunes y de Asuntos Generales de la Unión Europea Secretaría de Estado para la Unión Europea Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación 3. Originating Department Subdirección General de Control y de Laboratorios Alimentarios Dirección General de la Industria Alimentaria Ministerio de Agricultura y Pesca, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente Pº Infanta Isabel, 1 28071 Madrid 4. Notification Number 2017/0421/E - C00A 5. Title Draft Royal Decree on the indication of the origin of milk used as raw material on the labelling of milk and milk products 6. Products Concerned Milk and milk products (food information) 7. Notification Under Another Act - The draft has been initially notified to the Commission and the Member States through the procedure laid down in Article 45 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers (hereinafter: Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011). In a first assessment of the draft, the Commission has observed that Article 5 of the notified draft contains additional voluntary information with which food business operators can supplement the mandatory indication requirement provided for in the notified draft. For this reason, the Commission invites the Spanish authorities to notify the draft through the procedure laid down in Directive (EU) 2015/1535. 8. Main Content The main purpose of this standard is to regulate the mandatory indication of the origin of milk used as raw material on the labelling of milk and milk products manufactured in Spain that are marketed on Spanish territory and, in accordance with Article 39 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, the draft has followed the notification procedure of Article 45 of said regulation. Furthermore, Article 5 contains provisions relating to additional voluntary information, in particular, concerning the place of territorial or regional origin that will supplement the mandatory particulars of origin provided for in Article 3 and the requirements that this voluntary information must comply with. This has resulted in the draft being notified under Directive (EU) 2015/1535, in accordance with the European Commission's request. 9. Brief Statement of Grounds Chapter V of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 sets out the general requirements applicable to voluntary food information. The provisions concerning ‘additional voluntary information’ of Article 5 of the notified draft, reflect the need to establish a series of specific requirements for the optional indication of the name of a region or territory in order to avoid, as far as possible, this information being confusing for consumers. In this sense, irrespective of compliance with Chapter V of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, the draft sets out the following requirements for voluntary information regarding the name of the region or territory: - the milk will come entirely from the region or territory - the region or territory will belong, unequivocally, to the specified country of origin of the milk in accordance with Article 3 - it will not match up with a name protected under Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, for the same type of product. 10. Reference Documents - Basic Texts No basic text(s) available 11. Invocation of the Emergency Procedure No 12. Grounds for the Emergency - 13. Confidentiality No 14. Fiscal measures No 15. Impact assessment - 16. TBT and SPS aspects TBT aspect No - the draft has no significant impact on international trade. SPS aspect No - the draft has no significant impact on international trade. No - the draft is neither a sanitary nor phytosanitary measure. ********** European Commission Contact point Directive (EU) 2015/1535 Fax: +32 229 98043 email: grow-dir2015-1535-central@ec.europa.eu |
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Eucolait opposition to Spanish draft decree on the mandatory origin labelling of milk used as a raw material in milk and milk products
Eucolait wishes to express its opposition to the measure 2017/421/E notified through TRIS.
The reasoning provided for the introduction of rules on mandatory origin labelling is stated as being that the majority of Spanish consumers have an interest in receiving this information. This does not sufficiently justify the introduction of these rules, in accordance with Article 39(2) of the Food Information to Consumers regulation, which requires a ‘proven link between certain qualities of the food and its origin or provenance’ in order for national mandatory origin labelling schemes to be introduced.
This measure is particularly burdensome for dairies located in border regions – the collection of milk is often greatly integrated on national frontiers between Member States, meaning that milk from more than one Member State is often processed in the same facility. In addition, even though products from other Member States are excluded by virtue of the mutual recognition clause, they will de facto be discriminated against as the main purpose of the measure is to incite consumers to purchase Spanish products instead of similar products from other Member States. It is therefore clearly violating the principle of free movement of goods, just like all the other national mandatory origin labelling initiatives introduced by various Member States over the past 18 months. We also have serious doubts about the compatibility of this draft decree with the EU's and Spain's international trade commitments, in particular the WTO TBT agreement.