Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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Commission Notice Official Journal, 31 January 2020
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Commission Notice on the application of the provisions of Article 26(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 A copy of this Notice is available on this site (click on image). It was published in the Official Journal (OJ C32, 31.1.2020, page 1) |
The following is the Introduction to the Notice:
1. INTRODUCTION
Pursuant to Article 26(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to consumers (1) (hereinafter ‘the Regulation’), where the country of origin or place of provenance of a food is given and it is not the same as that of its primary ingredient, the country of origin or place of provenance of the primary ingredient in question needs also to be declared or, at least, indicated as being different to that of the food.
On 28 May 2018, the Commission adopted Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/775 (2) (hereinafter ‘the Implementing Regulation’) which lays down the modalities for the application of Article 26(3) of the Regulation. In particular, the Implementing Regulation clarifies and harmonises how the origin of the primary ingredient(s) must be labelled.
The purpose of this Commission notice is to provide guidelines for food business operators and national authorities on the application of the provisions of Article 26(3) of the Regulation. This Notice should be read in conjunction with other relevant provisions of the Regulation and of the Implementing Regulation. In particular this guidance is without prejudice to the prohibition of misleading information to consumers provided for in Article 7 of the Regulation. This Notice clarifies the provisions already contained in the applicable legislation. It does not extend in any way the obligations deriving from such legislation nor introduce any additional requirements on the concerned operators and competent authorities.
This Notice is merely intended to assist citizens, business operators and national competent authorities in the application of Article 26(3) of the Regulation and of the Implementing Regulation. Only the Court of Justice of the European Union is competent to authoritatively interpret Union law. The views expressed in this Notice cannot prejudge the position that the European Commission might take before the Union and national Courts.
