FSA Interested Party Letter, 11 July 2008
Most recipients will be aware that the European Commission has published its proposal for a food information regulation. The European Commission has finished its presentation to the Council Working Group on the proposal. This presentation took place over two days under the Slovenia Presidency. The Working Group will be discussing and debating the proposal in detail over the next few months. It therefore seems timely to bring you up to date with developments, and to give you some idea of the intended work programme and the way we would like to interact with stakeholders.
At the meeting the Commission went through their impact assessments on both the general and nutrition labelling aspects of the proposal. They gave a general background to the proposal and an explanation of the policies being put forward. The proposal was welcomed by the Member States who had the opportunity to question the Commission about the impact assessments and points of clarification around the policies being developed in the proposal.
Next steps
The French Presidency have organised their first meeting for July 14. At this meeting they have indicated that they wish to debate the major issues in the proposal. Following this initial meeting, the French have promised further meetings of the Council working Group every few weeks. The intention of the presidency at this stage seems to be to work through the proposal by article.