. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/N/EEC/401 
14 September 2011  
 (11-4429) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Notifying Member:  EUROPEAN UNION  
If applicable, name of local governme nt 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:  mailto:eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
Website:  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/  
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):  Products listed in annex I 
of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 such as e.g. o live oil, fruit and vegetables, wine, beef and 
veal, milk and milk products, eggs, poultry and ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Proposal for a 
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending C ouncil Regulation (EC) 
No 1234/2007 as regards marketing standards (COM(2010) 738) (60 pages, in English) 
6. Description of content:  The proposal takes into account th e necessity to align Regulation 
(EC) No 1234/2007 to the Treaty on the Functioni ng of the European Union.  It is thus 
proposed, as a general rule, that the legislators delegate to the Commission the power to adopt 
and develop marketing standards for agricultura l products.  Compared to  existing legislation 
the scope is extended to all sectors, but to be  implemented will need  secondary legislation 
adopted by the Commission which will be  notified under the TBT Agreement where 
appropriate.  
The proposal lays down a new set of rules, in pa rticular definitions, designations and/or sales 
descriptions for certain sector s and/or products, a principle of  conformity with the general 
marketing standard and certain oenological pr actices and restrictions  for the production of 
wine. 
For products not covered by speci fic standards, a minimum requi rement of "sound, fair and 
marketable" quality is proposed for reassuri ng consumers about the basic quality of the 
products they buy.  When such products conform to an applicable inte rnational standard, as 
appropriate, those products should be consider ed as conforming to the general marketing G/TBT/N/EEC/401 
Page 2  
 
  standard.  Certain rules are pr ovided in respect of products imported from third countries 
according to which special provisions in fo rce in certain third countries may justify 
derogations from the marketing standards if their equivalence to Union legislation is guaranteed.  
Existing definitions, designations and/or sale s descriptions do not change compared to 
existing Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 as amended. 
Some parts of the annexes of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 are deleted as their content is to 
be re-adopted by the Commission under its new powers. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Marketing standards have evolved on a piecemeal basis, instrument by instrument or product 
by product. A more coherent approach is deemed appropriate to  make them more 
understandable for consumers and help producers to easily communicate  the characteristics 
and attributes of their products.  
8. Relevant documents:    
- Regulation (EC) No 1234/ 2007 (the single CMO) 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=OJ :L:2007:299:0001:0149:EN:PDF  
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
 
Proposed date of entry into force:    2012 
 
Seventh day following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of  the European Union 
(about a month after adoption approx.)  However, the "general marketing standard" will only apply from one year after the entry into 
force. 
10. Final date for comments:  90 days from date of notification 
11. Text available from:  National enquiry point [  ], or address, telephone and fax numbers, 
e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:    
European Commission 
EU-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  + (32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  mailto:eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
The text is available in English, Fren ch and Spanish on the EU-TBT Website :  
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/    
and at:   
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0738:FIN:EN:PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0738:FIN:FR:PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:0738:FIN:ES:PDF  
http://members.wto.org/crnatt achments/2011/tbt/EEC/11_2958_00_e.pdf