EN Official Journal of the European Union C 172/7

Publication of an application for registration pursuant to Article 6(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin

(2005/C 172/05)

This publication confers the right to object to the application pursuant to Articles 7 and 12d of the abovementioned Regulation. Any objection to this application must be submitted via the competent authority in a Member State, in a WTO member country or in a third country recognized in accordance with Article 12(3) within a time limit of six months from the date of this publication. The arguments for publication are set out below, in particular under 4.6, and are considered to justify the application within the meaning of Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92.

SUMMARY

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 2081/92

‘HUILE D'OLIVE DE NICE’

EC No: FR/00322/29.10.2003

PDO (X) PGI ( )

This summary has been drawn up for information purposes only. For full details, in particular for the producers of the PDO or PGI concerned, please consult the complete version of the product specification obtainable at national level or from the European Commission (1).

1. Responsible department in the Member State:

Name: Institut National des Appellations d'Origine Address: 138, Champs-Élysées, F-75008 Paris From 1 January 2005: 51, rue d'Anjou, F-75008 Paris Tel.: 01 53 89 80 00 Fax: 01 42 25 57 97

2. Group:

2.1 Name: Syndicat Interprofessionnel de l'Olive de Nice 2.2 Address: Box 116, Min Fleurs 6, F-06296 Nice Cedex 3 Tel.: 04 97 25 76 40 Fax: 04 97 25 76 59 2.3 Composition: — Members: all natural and legal persons producing, processing, packing and marketing ‘Olive de Nice’ registered designation of origin olives and olive paste and ‘Huile d'olive de Nice’ registered designation of origin olive oil. — Management board: the 12-member board is made up of six growers, three cooperatives, two private processors and one packer.

3. Type of product:

Group 1.5 Olive oil

4. Specification:

(summary of requirements under Article 4(2))

4.1 Name: ‘Huile d'olive de Nice’

4.2 Description: Huile d'olive de Nice is a sweet oil with a discreet but fine aroma reminiscent of ripe apple and nuts (hazelnut, almond). It is produced essentially from the Cailletier variety of olive and has a maximum oleic acid content of 1,5 g per 100 g.

4.3 Geographical area: The geographical area covers 99 municipalities in the department of Alpes-Maritimes: Aiglun, Antibes, Aspremont, Auribeau-sur-Siagne, Le Bar-sur-Loup, Beaulieu-sur-mer, Bendejun, Berre-les-Alpes, Biot, Blauzasc, La Bollène-Vésubie, Bonson, Bouyon, Breil-sur-Roya, Le Broc, Cabris, Cagnes sur mer, Cannes, Le Cannet, Cantaron, Carros, Castagniers, Castellar, Castillon, Châteauneuf-Villevieille, Châteauneuf-de-Grasse, Clans, Coaraze, La Colle sur Loup, Colomars, Conségudes, Contes, Cuébris, Drap, Duranus, L'Escarène, Eze, Falicon, Les Ferres, Fontan, Gattières, La Gaude, Gilette, Gorbio, Gourdon, Grasse, Lantosque, Levens, Lucéram, Malaussène, Mandelieu-la-Napoule, Massoins, Menton, Mouans-Sartoux, Mougins, Nice, Opio, Pégomas, Peille, Peillon, Peymeinade, Pierrefeu, Revest-les-Roches, Roquebillière, Roquefort-les-Pins, Roquestéron, Roquestéron-Grasse, La Roquette-sur Siagne, La Roquette-sur-Var, Le Rouret, Saint-André, Saint-Blaise, Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne, Saint-Jeannet, Saint-Laurent-du-Var, Saint-Martin-du-Var, Saint-Paul, Sainte-Agnès, Saorge, Sigale, Sospel, Spéracédès, Le Tignet, Toudon, Touet-Escarène, La Tour-sur-Tinée, Tourette-du-Château, Tourette-Levens, Tourette-sur-Loup, Tournefort, La Trinité, La Turbie, Utelle, Valbonne, Vallauris, Vence, Villars-sur-Var, Villefranche-sur-mer, Villeneuve-Loubet.

The area is consistent with the traditional siting of olive groves and cultivation of the Cailletier variety (the presence of this variety in olive groves is a sound indicator of the geographical context typical of the designation) and the locating of processing plants and is based on the original characteristics of the natural environment (topography, pedology, climatology).

The area's northern boundaries are contiguous overall with the northernmost limits of the cultivation of olive trees and the southern limits of the ‘alpine, subalpine, mountain’ temperature and rainfall zone. These limits are precise because with altitude, and also latitude, cold becomes a restricting factor.

The Mediterranean Sea forms the southern boundary.

The eastern boundary consists of the border between France and Italy.

The western boundaries along with the Valley of La Siagne come up against the Var olive groves and taken as a whole coincide with the limits beyond which the Cailletier variety is not cultivated.

4.4 Proof of origin: The oils may be marketed under the ‘Huile d'olive de Nice’ registered designation of origin only if a certificate of approval issued by the Institut national des designations d'origine is obtained on the conditions laid down in the orders and decrees governing the approval of olive products qualifying for a registered designation of origin.

All operations involved in the production of the raw material and its preparation must be undertaken within the defined geographical area.

For the production of the raw material, the procedure entails:

identifying the parcel: this means producing a list of parcels recognised as suitable for the production of oil with the ‘Huile d'olive de Nice’ designation, i.e. parcels declared by the producer that comply with the requirements regarding siting and the rules of production (variety, growing system in the vineyard),

a harvest declaration: drawn up annually by the grower who declares the area in production, the quantity of olives grown in compliance with the specified yield, and the purpose for which the olives are intended.

For manufacturing, the procedure entails:

a declaration of manufacture: drawn up by the manufacturer who makes an annual declaration of the total quantity of product prepared;

an application for a certificate of approval: identifying the premises where the products are stored together with all containers of the products claimed.

The procedure includes an analytical and organoleptic examination to verify observance of the quality and identity of the products.

Lastly, producers and manufacturers who are issued with a certificate of approval are obliged to make an annual stock declaration.

4.5 Method of production:

Variety and growing system in the olive grove

The oil comes exclusively from olives of the Cailletier variety.

However, within each olive grove, the presence of pollinating varieties and old local varieties of olive trees, in particular Arabanier, Blanquetier, Blavet, Nostral and Ribeyrou, is permitted provided they are spaced out in a coordinated way and represent not more than 5 % of the number of trees in each cultivation unit in question. The use of olives obtained from pollinating varieties and old local varieties is only permitted for the production of olive oil only on condition that the proportion of these olives does not exceed 5 % by volume of the olives used.

The area available for each tree must be not less than 24 m2.

The olive trees must be pruned at least once every two years and the prunings must be removed from the groves before the next harvest.

Annual crops are authorised only in irrigated olive groves where the trees are less than five years old.

The olive groves must be maintained each year. However, no tilling may take place in any olive groves from 1 September to the end of harvesting, other than for the sowing of green manure, which is permitted up to 30 October.

Irrigation is allowed during the growing period until the colours begin to turn.

Harvesting

Save in exceptional circumstance, the yield from olive groves must not be more than six tonnes of olives per hectare for all uses.

Harvesting of the olives starts on a date fixed by order of the prefect on a proposal from the Institut national des appellations d'origine.

This must take place not earlier than the onset of ripening, i.e. when at least half the olives are wine-coloured.

The olives must be picked directly from the tree and no leaf detachment product may be used, or harvested in the traditional way by beating the tree or shaking down the fruit with a pole or by mechanical means. The fruit must be collected in nets or other receptacles placed beneath the trees.

Olives collected from the ground or which have fallen into the nets or other receptacles before harvesting must be kept separate from the olives to be used for producing oil protected by the designation.

Storage and transportation must take place in crates or slatted pallets.

Manufacturing conditions

The olives must be processed within seven days of harvest. The oil is extracted using only mechanical procedures and the paste is heated to no more than 30 °C. The only procedures authorised are washing, decantation, centrifugation and filtration. Other than water, no adjuvants may be used to facilitate extraction of the oil. The oil obtained must be virgin olive oil with a maximum free acid content, expressed as oleic acid, of 1,5 grams per 100 grams.

4.6 Link: Oil covered by the ‘Huile d'olive de Nice’ registered designation of origin reflects simultaneously a natural environment, a history and expertise.

Natural environment

France's olive-growing zone is located at the boundary in climatic terms for the cultivation of the olive tree. The progress of olive cultivation across the territory has the appearance of colonisation by selection and adaptation. In difficult climatic circumstances, and for a given type of soil, only a variety that is perfectly attuned to the natural environment can establish itself and succeed in producing fruit. This has been achieved by the Cailletier variety for the ‘Huile d'olive de Nice’ registered designation of origin.

The olive groves of Nice are sited amidst rugged hills on carbonate soils. They occupy elevated areas, subcoastal plateaux and the slopes of major hill systems on land arranged in terraces.

The climate of the olive-growing area is a Mediterranean one balanced by the occasional presence of a mountain climate, with mild temperatures, more abundant rainfall than in Lower Provence, excellent sunshine, and above all winds that are not strong.

In these circumstances, notable for the absence of strong winds, the Cailletier variety has become established over centuries as the dominant variety in Nice's olive groves.

The variety is so closely associated with the olive-growing landscape of Nice that its synonyms are: Petite olive de Nice, Olivier de Grasse (the name of a municipality close to Nice) and Grassenc.

History

For over two thousand years the olive tree has been part of the landscape of Alpes-Maritimes where it grows in 102 of the department's 163 municipalities. A witness to this are the olive groves producing fruit planted with trees several hundred years old and mills, of which there are still five operating according to the système génois (described in the Annex), such as the moulin de Contes dating from the XIIIth century and with a preservation order on it, still driven by a water wheel and wooden gears.

Originally located in coastal areas and hills following successive Phoenician, Greek and Roman invasions, olive cultivation developed over centuries in medium-elevation and upland areas to an altitude of 700 m.

Because of its oil, cultivation of the olive tree has always been essential for the population of the ‘Comté de Nice’ and the Côte d'Azur (see attached bibliography for the Tinée Valley).

Nice was even a ‘stronghold’ of the international trade in ‘Riviera’ type olive oil from the late XIXth century up to the Second World War (see attached old labels).

Olive growing declined sharply in Alpes-Maritimes after the Second World War and the disastrous extremely cold periods in 1929 and 1956.

For more than 25 years, driven by the activities of the professional organisations, the more efficient olive cultivation of Alpes-Maritimes has held steady and is expanding in the area behind the coast where it has been able to win back hillsides from flower cultivation.

The introduction and later the propagation over centuries of the sole ‘Cailletier’ variety, better known as ‘olive de Nice’, can be understood as the outcome of its adaptation to the environment and the qualitative and commercial recognition of the products produced from it.

Expertise

Holdings that live principally on olive growing have always been few in number even if today more and more are deriving income from its products.

On the terraces where the olive trees are grown, known locally as ‘planches’, cereals and market garden crops were also cultivated. The shaking down of the olives using poles made of hazelnut or chestnut wood took place in winter from January to March, as the soil was not cultivated during that period. The custom has always been, therefore, to harvest the olives when they are turning colour or ripe.

The special characteristic of the Cailletier variety is that it has two uses, with qualities suitable for the preparation of oil and for pickling. The variety has always been known for its ability to produce a sweet oil, particularly as the olives are harvested late.

It is also interesting to note that the late harvesting of ripe, dry olives is particularly well suited to milling using the ‘système génois’, with the addition of water (easily available in this mountain area) to the stone trough improving the results, producing a sweeter oil.

This expertise, the result of a centuries-long tradition, is apparent:

in the knowledge of their groves shown by the growers who, through their experience are able to direct the production of their parcels (geographical location, age of grove, ripening potential, etc.) or of a given tree in a grove (size of tree, olive crop, size of olives, uniformity of ripeness, etc.) towards oil or pickled-olive production;

at harvesting, which involves a single operation per tree, by the visual selection of the olives to be used for oil production or for pickling according to size, degree of ripeness and colouring, or smoothness (pickling) or crumpled appearance (oil production) of their skin, etc.

To sum up, oils bearing the ‘Huile d'olive de Nice’ Registered Designation of Origin draw their original character from:

the depths of their natural environment, with its predominantly Mediterranean climate balanced by moderate winds;

a variety that has found its environmental niche and comprises most of the trees planted in groves sited on hill terraces;

the customs of harvesting by beating and shaking down large-sized trees in a single operation, and the late harvesting, after the colour turns, of finely shaded fruit;

the expertise of the olive growers and processors;

manufacturing techniques appropriate to the variety and which emphasise preserving the characteristic features of the raw material.

4.7 Inspection body:

Name: I.N.A.O. Address: 138, Champs Élysées, F-75008 Paris From 1 January 2005: 51, rue d'Anjou, F-75008 Paris Name: D.G.C.C.R.F. Address: 59, Bd V.Auriol, F-75703 Paris Cedex 13

4.8 Labelling: In addition to the compulsory information provided for in the rules on the labelling and presentation of food, the following must appear on the labelling of oils qualifying for the ‘Huile d'olive de Nice’ registered designation of origin:

the name of the designation: ‘Huile d'olive de Nice’,

the words: ‘appellation d'origine contrôlée’ or ‘AOC’. Where the name of an undertaking or brand appears on the labelling, independently of the address, the name of the designation is repeated between the words ‘appellation’ and ‘contrôlée’.

The above information must be grouped in the same visual field and on the same label.

It must be indicated in conspicuous, clearly legible and indelible characters of a sufficient size to stand out from the label on which they are printed so as to be clearly distinguishable from all other written or graphic information.

4.9 National requirements: Order concerning the ‘Huile d'olive de Nice’ registered designation of origin.

(1) European Commission, Directorate-General for Agriculture, Agricultural product quality policy, B-1049 Brussels.