1997R2597 — EN — 01.01.1999 — 001.001 — 1
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►B COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)No 2597/97
of 18 December 1997
laying down additional rules on the common organization of the market in milk and milk products
for drinking milk
(OJ L 351, 23.12.1997, p. 13)
Amended by:
OfficialJournal
No page date
►M1 Council Regulation (EC) No 1602/1999 of 19 July 1999 L 189 43 22.7.1999
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COUNCIL REGULATION (EC)No 2597/97
of 18 December 1997
laying down additional rules on the common organization of the
market in milk and milk products for drinking milk
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, andin particular Articles 42 and 43 thereof,
Having regard to the proposalfrom the Commission (
1),
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and SocialCommittee (3),
Whereas the aim of CouncilRegul ation (EEC) No 1411/71 of 29 June
1971 laying down additional rules on the common organization of themarket in milk and milk products for drinking milk (
4), is to increase the
market for products falling within CN code 0401 as much as possible
by providing a guarantee of quality and products which fulfil consu-
mers' needs and wishes; whereas the establishment of marketing stan-dards for the milk products concerned helps to stabilize the market andtherefore to ensure a fair standard of living for farmers; whereas it isconsequently in the interests of both producers and consumers to main-tain such rules;
Whereas, in order to profit from experience and to simplify and clarify
the rules so as better to guarantee legal certainty for those concerned, a
number of amendments should be made to the said Regulation, and its
provisions brought together in a new Regulation;
Whereas, in order to meet the wishes of consumers, who attach
increasing importance to the nutritional value of milk proteins, rulesshould be laid down to ensure that milk products contain at least thenaturalprotein content of mil k and to permit the enrichment of drinkingmilk with milk proteins, mineral salts or vitamins or the reduction of its
lactose content;
Whereas Article 5 (9) of Council Directive 92/46/EEC of 16 June 1992
laying down the health rules for the production and placing on the
market of raw milk, heat-treated milk and milk-based products (
5), lays
down certain requirements concerning the composition of drinkingmilk; whereas, in the interests of consistency, those provisions shouldbe included in the Regulation on marketing standards and at the same
time amended to take account of experience;
Whereas CouncilDirective 79/112/EEC of 18 December 1978 on the
approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the label-
ling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs (
6), and CouncilDirec-
tive 90/496/EEC of 24 September 1990 on nutrition labelling for food-stuffs (
7) apply;
Whereas, in order to ensure consistency, products imported from third
countries should be subject to the same rules;
Whereas provision should be made that the Member States must deter-
mine the checks and penalties to be applied in the event of infringementof this Regulation,
(1) OJ C 267, 3. 9. 1997, p. 93.
(2) OJ C 339, 10. 11. 1997.
(3) Opinion delivered on 29 October 1997 (not yet published in the Official
Journal).
(4) OJ L 148, 3. 7. 1971, p. 4. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EEC)
No 2138/92 (OJ L 214, 30. 7. 1992, p. 6).
(5) OJ L 268, 14. 9. 1992, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive 96/23/EC
(OJ L 125, 23. 5. 1996, p. 10).
(6) OJ L 33, 8. 2. 1979, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive 97/4/EC (OJ
L 43, 14. 2. 1997, p. 21).
(7) OJ L 276, 6. 10. 1990, p. 40.
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HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. This Regulation lays down standards for products falling within
CN code 0401 intended for human consumption within the Community,without prejudice to measures for the protection of public health.
2. For the purposes of this Regulation:
(a) milk shall mean the produce of the milking of one or more cows;(b) drinking milk shall mean the products referred to in Article 3
intended for delivery without further processing to the consumer;
(c) fat content shall mean the ratio by mass of parts of milk fat per
hundred parts of milk in the milk concerned;
(d) protein content shall mean the ratio by mass of parts of protein per
hundred parts of milk in the milk concerned (obtained by multi-plying by 6,38 the total nitrogen content of the milk expressed as apercentage by mass).
Article 2
1. Only milk complying with the requirements laid down for drinking
milk may be delivered or sold without processing to the final consumer,either directly or through the intermediary of restaurants, hospitals,canteens or other similar mass caterers.
2. The sales descriptions to be used for those products shall be those
given in Article 3. Those descriptions shall be used only for theproducts referred to in that Article, without prejudice to their use in
composite descriptions.
3. Member States shall adopt measures to inform consumers of the
nature and composition of the products concerned where the absence of
such information is likely to cause confusion.
Article 3
1. The following products shall be considered as drinking milk:
(a) raw milk: milk which has not been heated above 40 °C or subjected
to treatment having equivalent effect;
(b) whole milk: heat-treated milk which, with respect to fat content,
meets one of the following requirements:
— standardized whole milk: milk with a fat content of at least
3,50 % (m/m). However, Member States may provide for anadditional category of whole milk with a fat content of 4,00 %
(m/m) or above,
— non-standardized whole milk: milk with a fat content that has
not been altered since the milking stage either by the additionor removal of milk fats or by mixture with milk the natural fatcontent of which has been altered. However, the fat content
may not be less than 3,50 % (m/m);
(c) semi-skimmed milk: heat-treated milk whose fat content has been
reduced to at least 1,50 % (m/m) and at most 1,80 % (m/m);
(d) skimmed-milk: heat-treated milk whose fat content has been
reduced to not more than 0,50 % (m/m).
2. Without prejudice to the second indent of paragraph 1 (b), only the
following modifications shall be allowed:
(a) in order to meet the fat contents laid down for drinking milk, modi-
fication of the naturalfat content by the removalor addition of
cream or the addition of whole milk, semi-skimmed milk orskimmed milk;
(b) enrichment of milk with milk proteins, mineral salts or vitamins;(c) reduction of the lactose content by conversion to glucose and galac-
tose.
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Modifications in the composition of milk referred to in (b) and (c) shall
be allowed only if they are indelibly indicated on the packing of theproduct so that it can be easily seen and read. However, such indicationshall not remove the obligation as regards nutrition labelling laid downby Directive 90/496/EEC. Where proteins are added, the protein content
of the enriched milk must be 3,8 % (m/m) or more.
However, Member States may limit or prohibit modifications to the
composition of milk referred to in points (b) and (c).
Article 4
Drinking milk must:
(a) have a freezing point close to the average freezing point for raw
milk recorded in the area of origin of the drinking milk collected;
(b) have a mass of not less than 1 028 grams per litre for milk
containing 3,5 % (m/m) of fat at a temperature of 20 °C or theequivalent weight per litre for milk having a different fat content;
(c) contain a minimum of 2,9 % (m/m) of protein for milk containing
3,5 % (m/m) of fat or an equivalent concentration in the case of
milk having a different fat content;
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M1
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Article 5
Products imported into the Community for sale as drinking milk must
comply with this Regulation.
Article 6
Directive 79/112/EEC shall apply, in particular as regards national
provisions on the labelling of drinking milk.
Article 7
1. Member States shall adopt all appropriate measures to monitor the
application of this Regulation, penalize infringements and prevent and
repress fraud.
Such measures and any amendments shall be notified to the Commis-
sion during the month following their adoption.
2. The Commission shall adopt detailed rules for the application of
this Regulation in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article30 of CouncilRegul ation (EEC) No 804/68 of 27 June 1968 on thecommon organization of the market in milk and milk products (
1).
Article 8
Regulation (EEC) No 1411/71 is hereby repealed.References to Regulation (EEC) No 1411/71 shall be understood to
apply to this Regulation.
Article 9
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1998. Article 4 shall,
however, apply from January 1999.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.
(1) OJ L 148, 28. 6. 1968, p. 13. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC)
No 1587/96 (OJ L 206, 16. 8. 1996, p. 21).