G/TBT/N/EU/556  
 
15 March 2018  
(18-1581) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member: EUROPEAN UNION   
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible: European Commission  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   
European Commission  
EU-TBT Enquiry Point  
Fax: +(32) 2 299 80 43  
E-mail: grow-eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools -databases/tbt/en/  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable): HS codes: 
15.09.10 virgin olive oil, 15.09.90 olive oil not chemically modified other than virgin, 
15.10.00 other oils obtained solely from olives (crude or refined olive -pomace oil and its 
blends with virgin olive oils)  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document: Draft 
Commission Delegated Regulation amending Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2 9/2012 as 
regards the requirements for certain indications on the labelling of olive oil (5 page(s), in 
English)    
6. Description of content: This draft Commission delegated regulation amends certain 
requirements related to the labelling of olive oil.  
In particular, it provides clarification in respect of certain optional indications (values of 
certain physico -chemical parameters that have to be labelled when the acidity is 
mentioned; harvesting year).  
It also clarifies the mention of the harvesting year and introduces a possibility for the EU 
Member States to make the labelling of the harvesting year compulsory for extra virgin 
and virgin olive oil, for the domestic production only (*), and as long as other 
requirements set out in Regulation (EU) No 29/20 12 are fulfilled (i.e. that all the olive oil in 
the container comes from that harvest).  
(*) This obligation is limited to olive oil obtained from olives harvested domestically and 
intended for their national markets only.  G/TBT/N/EU/556  
 
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  7. Objective and rationale, inc luding the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable: This draft delegated regulation aims at clarifying some existing provisions 
related to the labelling of certain optional indications for olive oil (Article 4 of Regulation 
(EU) No 29/2012 on marketing standards for olive oil).  
Regulation (EU) No 29/2012 provides that the value of certain physico -chemical 
parameters have to be labelled in cases in which the acidity is mentioned (peroxide value, 
wax content and the ultraviolet absorption). This draft delegated regulation will specify 
that those values should correspond to the values expected at the date of minimum 
durability (best -before date). As it is known that the values of those parameters may 
evolve after the bottling, this clarification will avo id misleading information being provided 
to consumers and will provide a better guarantee to operators responsible for the labelling.  
The second clarification proposed is related to the harvesting year that may be labelled 
under certain conditions. The dra ft delegated regulation will specify two options on how to 
label the harvesting year: the month and the year of the harvest or the whole marketing 
year in which the harvest took place, mentioning the two calendar years.  
Finally, with a view to providing in formation to consumers regarding the age of virgin olive 
oils, the draft delegated regulation gives EU Member States the possibility to oblige their 
operators to label the harvesting year, under very specific conditions. Indeed, such 
obligation is limited to olive oil produced at national level and intended for domestic 
consumption. Those limitations have been introduced with a view to ensuring that the 
functioning of the single market is not altered.  
8. Relevant documents:  Regulation (EU) No 29/2012  
http://eur -lex.europa.eu/legal -
content/EN/TXT/?qid=1520256064359&uri=CELEX:32012R0029   
9. Proposed date of adoption: End of  May 2018  
Proposed date of entry into force: On the third day following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of the European Union. Point (1) of Article 1 shall apply from six 
months after the date of entry into force of this Regulation. Olive oils labell ed prior to the 
date referred to in the second paragraph may be marketed until the stocks are exhausted.  
10. Final date for comments: 60 days from notification  
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [  ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and  email and website addresses, if available, of other body:   
European Commission  
EU-TBT Enquiry Point  
Fax: + (32) 2 299 80 43  
E-mail: grow-eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
The text is available on the EU -TBT Website:  
http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools -databases/tbt/en/  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2018/TBT/EEC/18_1360_00_e.pdf