Following the political agreement reached at the "Internal Market" Council on 27 November 1997, the Council formally adopted a common position with respect to the proposal for a Directive on coffee extracts and chicory extracts. The text will now be forwarded to the European Parliament for a second reading.
The proposal is part of a package of seven vertical foodstuffs Directives which the Commission proposes to simplify in accordance with the conclusions of the Edinburgh European Council. The aim is to retain only those essential requirements to be met by the products covered by these Directives so that the products in question may move freely within the internal market.