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Vol.1975/0069

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COMMISSION OFTHEEU50PEAN COMMUNTEDBS
COM(75)187 final
Brussels ,30April 1975
REPORT PROM THECOMMISSION TOTHE COUNCIL
onthecoordination ofthepositions oftheMember States
onquestions contained intheagenda ofthe10th Session ofthe
Code ::Committee onthelabelling offoodstuffs
COK(75 )137final

892/VI/75-E
INTRODUCTION
The Canadian Secretariat ofthe Codex Alimentarius Committee has
requested ,byacircular of15July 197^»comments onthree working-
papers prepared byitforthenext session ofthe Committee tobeheld
inOttawa from 26to30May1975-
(a)General guidelines onthelabelling ofgoods packaged inbulk ;
(b)general guidelines regarding trade descriptions forusebyCodex
product committees instudying provisions toCodex labelling
standards ;
(c)guidelines ontheestablishment ofCodex labelling standards
governing the dating ofproducts .
This report has been drawn upwith aview tocoordinating Member States 1
positions onthis subject .
Indrawing upthereport ,theCommission followed theguidelines laid
down for thepreparation ofdraft Directives onthelabelling of
foodstuffs .
Ingeneral ,theCommission believes that Member States should not adopt t
asregards theproposals oftheCanadian Secretariat ,positions liable
tohinder the -progress ofCommunity work alpresent inhand .
Guidelines ,onthelabelli ngof£0odspack edged inbulk
Gene_r_al ^onwn^en _t_s
The Commission believes that itwould beadvisable tocoordinate ,atthe
international level ,therules governing thetrade inbulk foodstuffs .
This document includes the text oftheworking paper prepared bythe
Canadian Secretariat ofthe Codex Committee onLabelling ,together with
certain reservations set out hereafter .

-2-
The form Given tothese guidelines "theprocedures tobefollowed
seem ofnogreat significance atpresent anddonotrequire acoordinated
approach onthepart oftheMember States .Inthis respect ,amore
definitive position could beadopted atthenext session oftheCommittee .
i
Detailed comments ontheheadings :
"Compulsory information "
(a)Asregards item "c","consignment marks foridentifying products in
accordance with therelated carriage contract ",this information
falls within thesphere ofcontract law ,with which theCodex
standards should notbeconcerned .These particulars ,andany
others ofasimilar type ,should bepurely optional .
(b)Ontheother hand ,acompulsory date nark ,-asadvocated bythe
labelling committee ,-would bedesirable .This information is .
necessary ifstocks are tobeproperly stored anddistributed jin
many ,cases itwould supplement theinformation required under "d",
onthestorage conditions ofthe goods . )
II.General guideli nes rep;arding tråde descriptions
■1.General definition
The Commission considers that thephrase inbrackets intheproposed
definition of"trade description "excessively restricts thescope of
thedefinition byimplying that theonly descriptions covered are
those concerning thecomposition offoodstuffs ,andthen only those
differing from standard consumer products asdefined bytheCodex .
TheCommission proposes thefollowing definition oftrade description
which ,initsopinion ,isdrafted more accurately ,andhasa.more
general application *
• - - .■■■■-, . ■ /■ ,
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-3- 892/VI/75~E
"Tradedescriptionshallbeunderstoodtomeantheuse,inthelabel­
ling,presentation oradvertizing offoodstuffsinwhatesoever ,form,
ofalldescriptions orotherinformation ,pictorialmatteror
•symbols,trademarks,brandnames,ormethodsofpresentation or
displayrelatingtothenature,identity,qualities,properties,
composition ,quantity,origin,methodofmanufacture orproduction
ofsuchfoodstuffs".
2.Generalrestrictions relatingtotradedescriptions .
Athirdrestriction shouldbelaiddown:
"Tradedescriptions mustnotimproperlydistinguish afoodstuff
fromsimilarfoodstuffs"..
Itseemsnecessarytoimposearestriction onthistypeofdescrip­
tionwhich,whilebeingtruthful,objectiveandverifiable ,_
nevertheless confusestheconsumerandconstitutes unfaircompeti­
tion.
e.g.:"Xhoneycomesexclusively frombees".
3.Descriptionsofthetype"PAJ.nncedfoodstuffs"andtherelated
restrictions.
Descriptions ofthistypeshouldbemoreclearlydefined;e.g.,
dotheyreferonlytothelisting,withoutfurtherdetails,ofthe
chemicalcontentsoffoodstuffs (glucids,lipids,mineralsalts,
etc...)ortotheircalorificvalue?
Insuchcasesthewords"standardconsumerproduct"wouldclarify
thematter.
4.Pernittedtradedescriptions
ItwouldbeabadideaiftheCodexalimentarius weretogive
officialrecognition tobiologicaltermswhich,whenappliedtoa
.given .foodstuff,aremeaninglessandlikelytocreateconfusion
inthemindoftheconsumerastothecharacteristics ofthepro­
duct.
Descriptions ofthisnatureshouldbeforbiddenandreplacedby
detailsoftheagricultural methodsusedintheproductionofthe
foodstuffconcerned.
"E.g.:product .obtainedwithouttheuseofpesticides".

Negative assurances ofthis kind ,which arenotreferred tointhe
proposed document ,should betreated with great aaution .
iiuG .i:,Those oranges have not been treated with diphenyl "}when
infact they nay have been treated with thiabendazole . •
The definition oftheword "fresh "should beexpanded toexclude
theaddition ofpreservatives ,andalimit -fate forconcur /-.ti-n ■
should beindicated ,uptowhich theproduct retains allits gene­
ralqualities ,-and inparticular itshygienic qualities .
III .Guideline sendatiiig
T.ae Commission fears that theproliferation -andcoexistence of
dating systems might not beunderstood ,tostart with atleast ,by
theconsumer .Foodstuffs may ,depending onthe circumstances and
ontheproposals ofthe Codex specialist committees ,bear a"date
ofmanufacture ","date ofpackaging ","sell-by date ","date of
minimum durability "or"date-limit ofguaranteed preservation "; .
these concepts may beclear tospecialists infoodstuffs ^egisla - ,
tion and tosome observant consumers butprobably not tothe
majority ,and theresulting confusion isdamaging both tothe con­
sumers ,and tothe distributors and manufacturers concerned .Itis
usually theresponsibility oftheCodex Committee onlabelling to
decide between thevarious possible dating systems .TheCommittee
should examine not more than twosystems ,one ofwhich refers to
i
anevent early inthelife oftheproduct andtheother tothe
shelf life orlimit-date forconsumption .
The .date ordates decided onshould becompulsory ,except' where •
aCode ::standard expressly provides foradifferent dating system
for aspecific foodstuff . . - i ' .
Inanyevent theCommission believes that inthemajority ofcases .
the "date ofminimum durability "would bethemost appropriate .