1997R0577 — EN — 02.12.1998 — 005.001 — 1
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aB COMMISSION REGULATION(EC)No577/97
of1April1997
layingdowncertaindetailedrulesfortheapplicationofCouncilRegulation(EC)No2991/94lay-
ing down standards for spreadable fats andof Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 on the pro-
tectionofdesignationsusedinthemarketingofmilkandmilkproducts
(OJ L 87, 2.4.1997, p. 3)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
aM1Commission Regulation (EC) No 1278/97 of 2 July 1997 L 175 6 3.7.1997
aM2Commission Regulation (EC) No 2181/97 of 3 November 1997 L 299 1 4.11.1997
aM3Commission Regulation (EC) No 1298/98 of 23 June 1998 L 180 5 24.6.1998
aM4Commission Regulation (EC) No 623/98 of 19 March 1998 L 85 3 20.3.1998
aM5Commission Regulation (EC) No 2521/98 of 24 November 1998 L 315 12 25.11.1998
1997R0577 — EN — 02.12.1998 — 005.001 — 2
bB
COMMISSION REGULATION(EC)No577/97
of1April1997
laying down certain detailed rules for the application of Council
Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 laying down standards for spreadablefats and of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 on the protec-
tion of designations used in the marketing of milk and milk pro-
ducts
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 of 5 December
1994 laying down standards for spreadable fats(1), and in particular
Article 8 thereof,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 of 2 July
1987 on the protection of designations used in the marketing of milkand milk products(
2), as last amended by the Act of Accession of
Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular Article 4 (2) thereof,
Whereas Article 2 (2) of Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 provides that
the sales descriptions of the products referred to in Article 1 thereof
must be those indicated in the Annex thereto; whereas there are
exceptions to that rule; whereas the rule does not apply in particularto designations where the exact nature of the product is clear from tra-ditional usage and/or where the designation is clearly used to describea characteristic quality of the product; whereas certain detailed rules
should be laid down for the application of that provision;
Whereas Article 1 (3) of Regulation (EC) No 2991/94, which stipu-
lates that that Regulation is to be applied without prejudice in particu-lar to Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87, must be complied with; whereasthe aim of the two Regulations is essentially the same, namely toavoid any confusion in the mind of the consumer as to the true nature
to the products in question; whereas, therefore, in order to ensure the
consistency of Community legislation, the detailed rules for applyingRegulations (EC) No 2991/94 and (EEC) No 1898/87 regarding theuse of the designation ‘butter’ should be laid down in a single text;
Whereas, in order to identify clearly the scope of the derogations
referred to in Regulation (EC) No 2991/94, an exhaustive list of the
designations concerned should be drawn up, together with a descrip-
tion of the products to which they refer;
Whereas the first criterion of the derogation provided for in the first
indent of the third subparagraph of Article 2 (2) of Regulation (EC)No 2991/94 relates to the traditional character of a designation;whereas such traditional character may be considered proven where
the designation has been used for a period preceding the date of entry
into force of this Regulation at least equal to the duration usuallyattributed to a human generation; whereas the derogation must be lim-ited to those products for which the designation has actually beenused so that such traditional character is not lost;
Whereas the second criterion of the abovementioned derogation relates
to the use of the designations in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No2991/94 to describe a characteristic feature of the marketed products;whereas in this case the exception relates logically to products whichare not listed as such in that Annex;
Whereas that derogation should be restricted to products currently
marketed; whereas the Member States have forwarded to the Commis-
sion the list of products which they consider to meet the criteria ofthat derogation within their territory;
(1) OJ No L 316, 9. 12. 1994, p. 2.
(2) OJ No L 182, 3. 7. 1987, p. 36.
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bB
Whereas Commission Decision 88/566/EEC of 28 October 1988 list-
ing the products referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87(
1) already contains
exceptions with regard to the designation ‘butter’; whereas account
should be taken of them;
Whereas, in the Community list provided for in Regulation (EC) No
2991/94, the designations of the products in question should be listedonly in the Community language in which those designations may be
used;
Whereas the designations on the labelling of foodstuffs containing
products as defined in the Annex to that Regulation or concentratedproducts as defined in the second indent of the third subparagraph ofArticle 2 (2) may refer to the corresponding designations given in that
Annex, provided that Council Directive 79/112/EEC of 18 December
1978 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relatingto the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs(
2), as last
amended by Directive 97/4/EC(3), is complied with; whereas there is
therefore no need for the list of the abovementioned exceptions tomention such foodstuffs;
Whereas, in view of present technical conditions, any obligation to
indicate the exact fat content without any tolerance would involveconsiderable practical difficulties; whereas, therefore, certain specialrules should be laid down in that regard;
Whereas Regulations (EC) No 2991/94 and (EEC) No 1898/87 cover
composite products of which an essential part is butter; whereas,
therefore, those products should be dealt with consistently, whilstadhering to the approach employed in Article 2 (3) of Regulation(EEC) No 1898/87; whereas the scope of the abovementioned Article2 (3) should therefore be defined more clearly with regard to compo-site products of which an essential part is butter, by laying down an
objective criterion for determining whether an essential part of the
composite products is actually butter and whether the designation ‘but-ter’ is therefore justified; whereas a minimum milk-fat content of 75 %in the final product seems to be the most appropriate criterion;
Whereas provision should nevertheless be made for a special proce-
dure allowing the Member States and the Commission to assess, on
application by the parties concerned, whether for technical and/ororganoleptic reasons, in the case of a product of which an essentialpart is butter, the minimum fat content of the final product must belower than 75 % and to authorize the use of the designation ‘butter’in that case;
Whereas the introduction of the rules for applying Article 2 (3) of
Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 to composite products of which anessential part is butter calls for certain transitional provisions to allowoperators a certain period in which to adapt to the rules;
Whereas the second subparagraph of Article 2 (2) of Regulation (EC)
No 2991/94 provides that the sales descriptions listed in the Annex
thereto are to be reserved for products which meet the criteria set outin that Annex; therefore, trade marks which employ those designationsmay continue to be used in the future solely for products which meetthose criteria;
Whereas actual market conditions will show whether or not it will be
appropriate to lay down measures at a later date with regard to com-posite products of which the main ingredient is margarine or compo-site fats;
Whereas the management committees concerned have not delivered an
opinion within the time limit laid down by their chairmen,
(1) OJ No L 310, 16. 11. 1988, p. 32.
(2) OJ No L 33, 8. 2. 1979, p. 1.
(3) OJ No L 43, 14. 2. 1997, p. 21.
1997R0577 — EN — 02.12.1998 — 005.001 — 4
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HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
1. The list of products covered by the derogation provided for in
the first indent of the third subparagraph of Article 2 (2) of Regulation(EC) No 2991/94 shall be as shown in the Annex hereto.
2. The designations listed in the Annex to Decision 88/566/EEC
which contain the world ‘butter’ in one of the Community languages
shall not be affected by this Regulation.
Article 2
1. The indication of the fat content as provided for in Article 3 (1)
(b) of Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 shall comply with the following
rules:
(a) the average fat content shall be declared without the use of deci-
mals;
(b) the average fat content may not differ by more than one percen-
tage point from the percentage declared. Individual samples maynot differ by more than two percentage points from the percentagedeclared;
(c) in all cases, the average fat content must comply with the limits
laid down in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2991/94.
2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, the fat content declared in respect
of the products referred to in Parts A(1), B(1) and C(1) of the Annexto Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 shall correspond to the minimum fatcontent of the product.
3. The procedure to be applied as from a
M31 January 1999 c
to verify compliance with paragraph 1 shall be as set out in Annex II.
Article 3
1. The designation ‘butter’ may be used for composite products of
which an essential part within the meaning of Article 2(3) of Regula-
tion (EEC) No 1898/87 is butter if the end product contains at least75 % milk fat and has been manufactured solely from butter withinthe meaning of Part A (1) of the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 and the other added ingredient(s) mentioned in the description.
2. The designation ‘butter’ may be used for composite products
containing less than 75 % but at least 62 % milk fat if the other
requirements specified in paragraph 1 are met and if the product des-
ignation includes the term ‘butter preparation’.
3. By derogation from paragraphs 1 and 2, the designation ‘butter’
may be used in association with a word or words to designate the pro-ducts listed in Annex III containing at least 34 % milk fat.
4. The use of the designation ‘butter’ under paragraphs 1, 2 and 3
shall be subject to the requirement to indicate in the labelling and pre-sentation of the products the milk fat content and, if the other added
ingredients contain fat, the total fat content.
5. The term ‘butter preparation’ in paragraph 2 and the indications
in paragraph 4 must appear in a conspicuous place and be easily visi-ble and clearly legible.
Article 5
Composite products using the designation ‘butter’ in accordance with
Article 2 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 and marketed at thebM5
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1997R0577 — EN — 02.12.1998 — 005.001 — 5
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time of entry into force of this Regulation which do not comply with
the provisions of Articles 3 and 4 of this Regulation may continue tobe marketed using the designation ‘butter’ for two years following the
date of the latter's entry into force.
Article 5a
Where a trade mark registered in Austria, Finland or Sweden prior to
1 January 1995 and using the sales description ‘butter’ referred to inPart A (1) of the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 was appliedprior to that date to products not complying with Part A (1) of theAnnex, it may continue to be applied to such products for a transi-
tional period of 10 years from the abovementioned date.
Article 6
This Regulation shall enter into force on the seventh day following its
publication in the OfficialJournaloftheEuropeanCommunities .
However, Article 2 shall apply at the same time as the method pro-
vided for in paragraph 3 thereof.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.b
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ANNEXaM2Ic
I.(Spanish) ‘Mantequilla de Soria’ or ‘Mantequilla de Soria
dulce’, ‘Mantequilla de Soria azucarada’: for a
sweetened aromatized milk product with a mini-
mum milk-fat content of 39 %
II.(Danish)
III.(German) — ‘ButterkTGSSkse’: for cow's milk cheese which has
a semi-soft, fatty consistency and a minimum
milk-fat content in the dry matter of 45 %
— ‘KrTGSSkuterbutter’: for a butter-based preparation
containing herbs and a minimum milk-fat content
of 62 %
— ‘Milchmargarine’: for margarine containing at
least 5 % whole milk, skimmed milk or other sui-
table milk products
IV.(Greek)
V.(English) — ‘Brandy butter’, ‘Sherry butter’ or ‘Rum but-
ter’: for a sweetened, alcoholic product with a
minimum milk-fat content of 34 %
— ‘Buttercream’: for a sweetened product with a
minimum milk-fat content of 22,5 %
VI.(French) ‘Beurre d'anchois, de crevettes, de langouste, de
homard, de crabe, de langoustine, de saumon, de
saumon fumTGSID, de coquille Saint-Jacques, de sar-
dine’: for products containing sea foods and a
minimum milk-fat content of 10 %
VII.(Italian)
VIII.(Dutch)
IX.(Portuguese)
X.(Finnish) ‘Munavoi’: for a product containing eggs and a
minimum milk-fat content of 35 %
XI.(Swedish) — ‘flytande margarin’: for a product of a liquid
consistency containing at least 80 % vegetable
fats such as margarine yet whose composition is
such that the product is not spreadable
— ‘messmTGSUDr’: for a whey-based milk product,
whether or not sweetened, of a minimum milk-fat
content of 2 %
— ‘vitlTGSUDkssmTGSUDr’, ‘persiljesmTGSUDr’ or ‘pepparrots-
smTGSUDr’: for a product containing foodstuffs having
a flavouring effect and of a minimum milk-fat
content of 66 %
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ANNEXII
Verificationofthedeclaredfatcontentofspreadablefats
Five samples are to be taken randomly from the batch to be checked and ana-
lysed. The following two procedures are to be applied:
A. The arithmetical mean of the five results obtained is compared with the
declared fat content. The declared fat content is deemed to comply if the
arithmetical mean content does not differ by more than one percentage
point from the declared fat content.
B. The five individual results are compared with the tolerance (€ two percen-
tage points of the declared fat content) shown in Article 2(1)(b). If the dif-
ference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the five
individual results is less than or equal to four percentage points, the
requirements of Article 2(1)(b) are deemed to be met.
Where compliance with the conditions set out under A and B is established,
the batch being checked is deemed to comply with the requirements of Article
2(1)(b) even where one of the five values falls outside the tolerance range of €
two percentage points.
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ANNEXIII
ProductsreferredtoinArticle3(3)
Type of product Composition of product Minimum milk fat content
Alcoholic butter (butter
containing alcoholic
beverages)Butter, alcoholic bev-
erage, sugar34 %