Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:1999:615
Date: 1999-12-16
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Sixth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Foodstuffs;Milk products;Approximation of laws
Concepts: General
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment 
Agriculture — Common organisation of the markets — Milk and milk products — 
Protection of designations — Use of the designation 'cheese' to describe a dietary product 
in which the natural fat has been replaced by vegetable fat — Not permissible — 
Additional descriptions — No effect 
(Council Regulation No 1898/87, Art. 3(1); Council Directive 89/398, Art. 3(2)) 
I - 8841 
SUMMARY — CASE C-101/98 
Article 3(1) of Regulation No 1898/87 on 
the protection of designations used in 
marketing of milk and milk products, read 
in conjunction with Article 3(2) of Direc­
tive 89/398 on the approximation of the 
laws of the Member States relating to 
foodstuffs intended for particular nutri­
tional uses, is to be interpreted as meaning 
that a milk product in which the milk fat 
has been replaced by vegetable fat for 
dietetic reasons may not be designated as 
'cheese'. 
A designation such as 'Dietary cheese 
(Dietary soft cheese) containing vegetable 
oil for a fat-modified diet' may not be used 
in the case of products derived from milk in 
which a natural constituent of milk has 
been replaced by a foreign substance, even 
when that designation is accompanied by 
additional descriptions on the products' 
packaging, such as 'This dietary cheese is 
rich in polyunsaturated fats' or 'This diet­
ary cheese is ideal for a cholesterol-con­
scious lifestyle'. Those descriptions not 
only do not clearly indicate that the milk 
fat has been entirely replaced by vegetable 
fat but they even increase the risk of 
confusion in the consumer's mind in that, 
in breach of Article 3(2) of the Regulation, 
they suggest, by the unlawful use of the 
term 'cheese', that those products are milk 
products. 
I - 8842