The issues
Agricultural Quality Policy
Commission Communication on Agricultural Product Quality Policy
On 28 may 2009 the Commission published its Communication on Agricultural Product Quality Policy where it sets out its thinking around issues such as improving communication of information to buyers and consumers' improving the coherence of existing schemes and reducing complexity in the ultimate goal of preserving the strong reputation for quality that EU food and drink products enjoy globally.
As stated in Regulation 110/2008 on the definition' description' presentation' labelling and the protection of geographical indications of spirit drinks' our sector “constitutes a major outlet for Community agricultural products” (recital 3) and it is “important for consumers' producers and the agricultural sector”. Therefore' the measures applicable to it “should contribute to attainment of a high level of consumer protection' the prevention of the deceptive practices and the attainment of market transparency and fair competition” while safeguarding “the reputation which Community spirit drinks have achieved in the Community and on the world market by continuing to take into account the traditional practices” (recital 2). A high level of protection for our sales denominations (“marketing standards” in the Communication’s language) and GIs has strongly contributed to maintaining this reputation. The EU spirits industry is the leading exporter of spirits in the world with a value 6.2 billion Euro in 2008.
CEPS’ expectations regarding any new legislative framework concerning spirit drinks are based around the following ideas:
- It is important to retain the existing systems of registration of geographical indications for wines' spirits and foodstuffs in order to maintain the specific characteristics of each. Merging these systems may lead to a watering down of the protection achieved through these systems.
- Spirit drinks GIs are not under the protection of Regulation 510/2006. Regulation 110/2008 gives a definition of spirits GIs (recital 14) which is fully in line with the WTO TRIPS requirements. Our GIs are not therefore subject to the PDO and PGI regime. CEPS would strongly oppose extending these requirements to EU spirit drink GIs since existing mandatory labelling requirements are already extensive and no need for additional requirements has been demonstrated.
- Voluntary indication of the origin of raw materials in processed food is necessary in order to avoid disproportionate costs for the industry for whom strict labelling requirements are already applicable. Mandatory place of farming would not be appropriate to the specificities of the spirit industry and its long-standing practices and would not provide consumers with any valuable information[1].
- The creation of an international register of GIs through the current WTO negotiations would be strongly welcomed by CEPS. The Communication itself fails to include this' as a more ambitious overhaul of the way the EU seeks international protection of its GIs.
See our full CEPS position paper on the Communication on Agricultural Product Quality policy
[1] There is only one limited situation in which an additional origin statement would be useful. Some of CEPS whisky producers suffer unfair competition' and consumers are faced with misleading labels' from a number of whiskies on the market that' intentionally' do not declare their origin but are presented in a way which suggested they are from a traditional whisky producing country. For these products alone' our members are asking for a mandatory country of origin declaration on all whisky sold in the EU.
