EN   EN 
 
 EUROPEAN  
COMMISS IO N 
Brussels, XXX  
SANTE/11425/2016 
(POOL/E1/2016/11425/11425-EN.doc) 
[…](2017) XXX  dr a f t  
 
COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) …/... 
of XXX  
laying down rules for the application of Article 26(3) of Regul ation (EU) N° 1169/2011 of 
the European Parliament and of the Council on the provision of food information to 
consumers, as regards the rules for indicating the country of o rigin or place of 
provenance of the primary ingredient of a food where different to that given for that 
food 
(Text with EEA relevance) 
This draft has not been adopted or endorsed by the European Commission. Any 
views expressed are the preliminary views of the Commission services and may not 
in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the Commission.  
  
EN 1  EN 
COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING  REGULATION (EU) …/... 
of XXX  
laying down rules for the app lication of Article 26(3) of Regul ation (EU) N° 1169/2011 of 
the European Parliament and of t he Council on the provision of food information to 
consumers, as regards the rules  for indicating the country of o rigin or place of 
provenance of the primary ing redient of a food where different to that given for that 
food 
(Text with EEA relevance) 
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 
Having regard to the Treaty on the  Functioning of the European Union, 
Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European P arliament and of the 
Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information  to consumers1, and in 
particular Article 26(8)  thereof, 
Whereas: (1) Article 26 of Regulation (EU) N° 1169/2011 establishes general rules and 
requirements regarding the indication of the country of origin or place of provenance 
of foods, which should apply without  prejudice to the specific Union provisions. 
(2) Article 26(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 requires the i ndication of the 
country of origin or place of provenance where its omission cou ld mislead the 
consumer as to the true country of origin or place of provenanc e of the final food in 
question, in particular if the information accompanying the foo d or the label as a 
whole would otherwise imply th at the food has a different count ry of origin or place of 
provenance. This Article aims at preventing misleading food inf ormation which 
implies a certain origin of a food, when in fact its true origi n is different.  
(3) Article 26(3) of Regulation (E U) N° 1169/2011 provides that whe re the country of 
origin or the place of provenan ce of a food is given and where it is not the same as that 
of its primary ingredient, the country of origin or place of pr ovenance of the primary 
ingredient in question shall also  be given or indicated as bein g different to that of the 
food. It further states that the  application of these requireme nts shall be subject to the 
adoption of an implementing act. 
(4) Article 26(3) of Regulation (E U) N° 1169/2011 addresses cases w here the country of 
origin or place of provenance is given mandatorily, including i n accordance with 
Article 26(2)(a) of the Regul ation, or voluntarily through any indication such as 
statements, terms, pictoria l presentation or symbols. 
                                                 
1 Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of  the Council of 25 October 2011 on 
the provision of food information to consumers amending Regulat ions (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) 
No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and  repealing Commission Directive 
87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC 
of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Direc tives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and 
Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004, (OJ L 304, 22.11.2011, p. 18).  
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(5) Voluntary indications such as geo graphical statements included in, or accompanying 
the name of the food, may also be part of product designations protected as 
geographical indications or as trade marks according to specifi c EU legislations.  
(6) Indications of the country of orig in or the place of provenance  of a food which are part 
of product designations protected  as geographical indications u nder Regulation (EU) 
No 1151/20122, Regulation (EU) No 1308/20133, Regulation (EC) No 110/20084 o r  
Regulation (EU) No 251/20145 or protected pursuant to int ernational agreements fall 
within the scope of Article 26( 3) of Regulati on (EU) N° 1169/20 11. In view of the fact 
that for these product designati ons an intrinsic link between p roduct characteristics 
and geographical origin exists, that they are regulated by spec ific rules, including rules 
on labelling, and taking into consideration the specific charac t e r  o f  t h e s e  n a m e s  a s  
intellectual property rights, it  is necessary to further examin e how the origin of the 
primary ingredient provided by Article 26(3) of Regulation (EU)  No 1169/2011 
should be indicated for said names.  
(7) Indications of the country of orig in or the place of provenance  of a food which are part 
of trade marks registered unde r Directive (EU) No 2015/2436 fal l within the scope of 
Article 26(3) of Regulation (EU) N° 1169/2011. Trade marks may consist of any 
signs, in particular words, incl uding personals names, designs,  letters, names, colours, 
the shape of goods or of the packaging of goods, or sounds, pro vided that such signs 
give to the goods or services of one undert aking a distinctive character. The purpose of 
trade marks is to allow the consumer to identify a particular c ommercial source or 
trade origin in connection with  specific good and/or services. Taking into 
consideration the specific char acter and objective of trade mar ks, it is appropriate to 
further examine how the origin of the primary ingredient provid ed by Article 26(3) of 
Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 shoul d be indicated when required for trade marks. 
(8) Customary and generic names including geographic terms that lit erally indicate origin, 
but whose common underst anding is not an indi cation of origin o r place of provenance 
of the food, should not be c overed by this Regulation. 
(9) For the purpose of this Regulation, identification marks accomp anying the food in 
accordance with Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 laying down specifi c hygiene rules for 
food of animal origin6 should not be considered as an indication of the country of 
origin or the place of provenance.  
(10) To enable consumers to make better informed choices, it is nece ssary to set specific 
rules which should apply for the purpose of this Regulation whe re the country of 
origin or the place of provenan ce of the primary ingredient is given. Those rules shall 
ensure that such information i s sufficiently precise and meanin gful.  
                                                 
2 Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of 21 November 2012 on quality sc hemes for agricultural products and 
foodstuffs (OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1). 
3 Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of 17 December 2013 establishing a common organisation of the 
markets in agricultural products and repealing Council Regulati ons (EEC) No 922/72, (EEC) 
No 234/79, (EC) No 1037/2001 and (EC) No 1234/2007 (OJ L 347, 2 0.12.2013, p. 671). 
4 Regulation (EC) No 110/2008 of 15 January 2008 on the definiti on, description, labelling and the 
protection of geographical indications of spirit drinks and rep ealing Council Regulation (EEC) 
No 1576/89 (OJ L 39,  13.2.2008, p. 16). 
5 Regulation (EU) No 251/2014 of 26 February 2014 on the definit ion, description, labelling and the 
protection of geographical indi cations of aromatised wine produ cts and repealing Council Regulation 
(EEC) No 1601/91 (OJ L 84, 20.3.2014, p. 14). 
6 Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of 29 April 2004 laying down speci fic hygiene rules for foods of animal 
origin (OJ L 139, 30.4.2004, p. 55).  
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(11) It is therefore appropriate that  such indication for the primar y ingredient is provided 
with reference to a geographica l area which should be easy to u nderstand for the 
consumer. The use of invented names for regions or other geogra phical areas which 
are not meaningful information or could mislead the consumer as  to the real place of 
provenance of the primary ingr edient should be prohibited.  
(12) Where a primary ingredient is a food subject to specific Union provisions on the 
indication of the country of origin or the place of provenance,  these provisions could 
be alternatively used for the pur poses of Article 26(3)(a) of t he Regulation.  
(13) Where food business operators opt  to only indicate the country of origin or place of 
provenance of the primary ingredie nt as being different to that  of the food, for example 
because of multiple or variable supply sources and particular p roduction pr ocesses, it 
is appropriate to provi de a framework which takes into account the various 
circumstances of food processing. The relevant indication shoul d ensure 
comprehensible information to the consumer.  
(14) Information provided with respect to primary ingredient in acco rdance with this 
Regulation should complement the information given to the consu mers on the country 
of origin or place of provenance of the food, and should be eas ily visible and clearly 
legible and where appropriate i ndelible. An appropriate transit ional period should be 
established for the application of this Regulation, in accordan ce with Article 47 of 
Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, which requires that any new food information 
measures should apply as from 1 April in any calendar year, The  measures provided 
for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of th e Standing  Committee 
on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
Scope  
1. This Regulation lays down the modalities for the provision o f information on the 
country of origin or place of provenance of the primary ingredi ent as required by 
Article 26 (3) of Regulation (EU) N° 1169/2011.  
2. This Regulation shall not app ly to geographical indications protected under 
Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, Re gulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Reg ulation (EC) 
No 110/2008 or Regulation (EU) No 251/2014 or protected pursuan t to international 
agreements; nor trade marks registered under Directive (EU) No 2015/2436, pending 
the adoption of specific rules c oncerning the application of Ar ticle 26(3) to foods 
bearing such indications. 
Article 2 
Indication of the country of origin or pla ce of provenance of the primary ingredient  
The country of origin or the place of provenance of a primary i ngredient which is not the 
same as the given country of origin or the given place of prove nance of the food shall be 
given: 
(a) with reference to one of the  following geographical areas:  
(i) “EU”, “non-EU” or "EU and non-EU"; or  
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(ii) Region, or any other geogra phical area either within sever al Member States or 
within third countries, if defined as such under public interna tional law or well 
understood by normally informed average consumers; or 
(iii) FAO Fishing area, sea or freshwater body, if defined as s uch under 
international law or well understood by normally informed avera ge consumers; 
or  
(iv) Member State(s) or  third country(ies); or 
(v) Region, or any other geographical area within a Member Stat e or within a third 
country, which is well underst ood by normally informed average consumers; or 
(vi) The country of origin or place of provenance in accordance  with specific Union 
provisions applicable  for the primary ingred ient(s) as such. 
(b) or by means of a statement as follows: 
"(name of the primary ingredient) do/does not originate from (t he country of origin 
or the place of provenance of the food)" or any similar wording  likely to have the 
same meaning for the consumer. 
Article 3 
Presentation of the information 
1. Information provided pursuant to Article 2 shall be provided  in a font size which is 
not smaller than the minimum font size as required in accordanc e with Article 13(2) 
of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. 
2. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, where the country of origi n or place of provenance 
of a food is given with words, the information provided pursuan t to Article 2 shall 
appear in the same field of visi on as the indication of the cou ntry of origin or place of 
provenance of the food and by using a font size which has an x- height of at least 75% 
of the x-height of the  indication of the c ountry of origin or p lace of provenance of the 
food.  
3. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, where the country of origi n or place of provenance 
of a food is given by means of non-scriptural form, the informa tion provided 
pursuant to Article 2 shall appear in the same field of vision as the indication of the 
country of origin or place  of provenance of the food.  
Article 4 
Entry into force, transitional measures and date of application  
1. This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day foll owing that of its 
publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . 
2. It shall apply from 1 April 2019.  3. Foods placed on the market or labelled prior to the date of application of this 
Regulation may be marketed until the stocks are exhausted.  
4. This Regulation shall be bindi ng in its entirety and directl y applicable in all Member 
States.  
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Done at Brussels, 
 For the Commission 
 The President  Jean-Claude JUNCKER