G/TBT/W/642  
 
2 July 2019  
(19-4420) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original:  English  
 
EUROPEAN UNION - APPLICATION OF REGULATI ON NO. 1169/2011 AND  REGULATION 
(EC) NO. 1924/2006 A S REGARDS THE LABELL ING OF FOOD PRODUCTS , IN NOT 
PROHIBITING OR EXAMI NING THE USE OF "PAL M OIL FREE" LABELS  
STATEMENT BY INDONESIA  TO THE COMMITTEE ON  TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE  
20 AND 21 JUNE 2019  
The following communication, dated 1 July 2019, is being circulated at the request of the delegation 
of Indonesia . 
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1.  The Government of Indonesia would like to reiterate its concerns about the use of "Palm Oil Free" 
labeling by several food product companies in the EU.  
2.  The Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 govern the food information, in particular food labelling. 
Article  7 (1) (c) of the Regulation provides that food information must  not be misleading for the 
customers, particularly "by suggesting that the food possess special characteristics when in fact all 
similar food possesses similar characteristics, in particular by specifically emphasizing the presence 
of absence of certain in gredients and/or nutrients." Palm oil has similar characteristics with rapeseed 
oil, sunflower oil or any vegetable oils. Therefore, it is unnecessary, irrelevant, and illegal to 
specifically labelling any foodstuffs with "Palm Oil Free" as it is creating unsubstantiated misleading 
generalization to the customers.  
3.  The practice of palm oil free labelling has lead customers into confusion, as well as 
misunderstanding on the impact and/or affect of food products containing palm oil. Allowing food 
exporters to  apply this labelling in the absence of scientific evidence creates unfair and unnecessary 
barrier to trade. Indonesia encourages the EU to be consistent with EU Regulation 1169 Chapter  V 
Article 36 poin t 2, which states that "(a) it shall not mislead the consumer, as referred to in Article  7; 
(b) it shall not be ambiguous or confusing for the customers, and (c) it shall, where appropriate, be 
based on the relevant scientific data. " 
4.  Article 18 (1) of the Regulation provides that the list of ingredients shal l include all substances 
that are used to manufacture the food product and not the substance that is not used in 
manufacturing or preparing the food product. While Article 9 and 21 of the Regulation require 
foodstuff producers to make clear of the presence  of certain substance in the labelling of the food 
products, it is only limited to substances that are causing allergies or intolerances, in which, 
according to Annex II of the Regulation does not include palm oil as a substance that is causing 
allergies o r intolerances. Therefore, mentioning palm oil as a substance that is absence from the list 
of ingredients of foodstuffs is also contravening the Regulation.  
5.  Moreover, based on EU Regulation 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods, the 
EU does not give authorization to food producers in claim related to carotenes contain in the palm 
oil due to the fact of the insufficient scientific evidence. This is on the contrary with current situation 
on which the EU allowing food producer to use palm oi l free labelling without scientific justification.  
6.  Indonesia emphasizes the EU to refer to the International Codex standards related to general 
food labeling (GENERAL STANDARD FOR THE LABELING OF PREPACKAGED FOODS CXS 1 -1985), 
especially regarding the bas ic principles of labeling not mislead and not related to other products 
that confuse consumers.  G/TBT/W/642  
 
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  7.  We believe that free palm oil label, exploited by non -governmental bodies within the EU, without 
accurate scientific evidence on the impact of palm oil in food products on human health is a mere 
black advertisement to mislead and deceive the customers. Therefore, Indonesia urges the EU to 
apply the principle of non -discrimination on the treatment given to palm oil compared to other 
vegetable oils (sunflower, soyb ean, rapeseed oil).  
8.  Indonesia emphasizes that the EU need to be consistent with the WTO TBT Agreement in Article 
2.1 on non -discrimination, Article 3.4 and 3.5 on measures by local governments and non -
governmental bodies that shall be in line with the WTO  TBT Agreement. Indonesia urges EU to take 
necessary action to ensure that their NGOs and local governments apply measures consistently with 
EU Regulation 1169 and WTO TBT Agreements.  
 
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