EN Official Journal of the European Union C 108/22

Publication of an amendment application pursuant to Article 50(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs

(2016/C 108/09)

This publication confers the right to oppose the application pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1).

APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF NON-MINOR AMENDMENTS TO THE PRODUCT SPECIFICATION FOR A PROTECTED DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN OR PROTECTED GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION

Application for approval of amendments in accordance with the first subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012

‘HUILE D’OLIVE DE HAUTE-PROVENCE’

EU No: FR-PDO-0105-01340 — 27.5.2015

PDO ( X ) PGI ( )

1. Applicant group and legitimate interest

Syndicat AOP Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence Chambre d’Agriculture Avenue Charles Richard 04700 Oraison FRANCE Tel. +33 492305787 Fax +33 492787000 E-mail: contact@aochuiledolive-hauteprovence.com

Syndicat AOP Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence, a professional association governed by the amended Law of 21 March 1884, is composed of olive producers and processors (approximately 400 operators) and has a legitimate interest in submitting the application.

2. Member State or Third Country

France

3. Headings in the product specification affected by the amendment(s)

— ☐ Name of product — ☒ Description of product — ☒ Geographical area — ☒ Proof of origin — ☒ Method of production — ☐ Link — ☒ Labelling — ☒ Other (inspections, contact details of the competent authorities and inspection bodies, link)

4. Type of amendment(s)

— ☒ Amendments to the product specification of a registered PDO or PGI not to be qualified as minor within the meaning of the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012. — ☐ Amendments to the product specification of a registered PDO or PGI for which a Single Document (or equivalent) has not been published and which cannot be qualified as minor within the meaning of the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012.

5. Amendment(s)

Product description:

The description of the product has been revised and supplemented in order to further clarify the specificity of the product and its analytical and sensory characteristics:

— The colour of the olive oil has been specified (yellow visual appearance with green reflections that disappear gradually) in order to point out that the green character of the oil may become less marked over time, in particular because of the degradation of the chlorophyll pigments contained in the oil.

— Solely for the sake of preserving the quality of the olive oil as well as possible, the maximum free acidity content has been reduced to 0,8 g/100 g instead of 1 g/100 g. The physico-chemical analyses carried out in connection with monitoring the designation of origin have shown that the oils do not exceed this amount.

— The aromatic characteristics have been specified on the basis of sensory testing carried out by the applicant group and the Centre technique de l’Olivier (CTO): as regards smell, it has been specified that the dominant aromas may be combined or present alone. Aromas of banana, freshly cut grass and fresh almond have been added and those of pear removed. As regards taste, it has been specified that the dominant flavour is that of raw artichoke, while secondary flavours of banana, grass, apple and fresh almond, either combined or alone, have been added.

— Bitterness (≥ 1 according to the scale of the International Olive Council — IOC) and pungency (≥ 2 according to the scale of the IOC) have been defined and incorporated into the specification. They apply prior to the first marketing of the product and clarify the concept of fieriness but also of ‘mildness’ and ‘slight bitterness’ originally indicated.

Besides, in order to preserve the product’s quality for the consumer, the peroxide value has been lowered to 15 milliequivalents of oxygen peroxide for each kilogramme of oil instead of 20 as was initially the case.

The limit for the K270 index has been deleted, since this parameter is closely correlated with acidity and the peroxide value. Therefore deleting it has no impact on the quality and specific characteristics of the oil so long as the maximum permitted values for acidity and the peroxide value have been defined.

The indication of the ‘virgin’ nature of the oil has been removed, since that quality relates solely to the analytical characteristics of the oil and the oil may belong either to the ‘virgin’ or ‘extra virgin’ category.

Geographical area

The boundaries of the geographical area of the designation have not been changed, but its definition has been clarified. These clarifications consist in introducing an exhaustive list of the municipalities in the geographical area (with communes grouped, whenever possible, by canton in the Single Document).

Moreover, the methods for identifying land parcels have been clarified in the specification, in accordance with the new national procedures.

Furthermore, the various stages which must take place within the geographical area of the designation have been clarified: ‘All of the processes, from the production of the olives to their transformation into olive oil, are carried out within the defined geographical area’.

Proof of origin

Owing to developments in national legislation and rules, the section ‘Evidence that the product originates from the defined geographical area’ has been amended to bring together solely provisions on declaration requirements and the keeping of registers for tracing products and monitoring production conditions. A reference to inspection mechanisms has also been introduced. All elements relating to the history and the reputation of the product that were originally in this section of the specification have been removed.

Method of production

— The introductory sentences ‘The oil must come from olives harvested in identified groves located in the delimited production area. The criteria for identifying parcels exclude areas unsuitable for high-quality olive cultivation.’ have been deleted from this section of the specification, because the procedure for identifying parcels is explained in the section ‘Geographical area’ in the same specification.

— Authorised varieties: The concepts of ‘main variety’ and ‘secondary varieties’ have been deleted, since minimum and maximum percentages have been set for the different varieties. Furthermore, the maximum percentage (5 %) for ‘pollinator’ varieties as well as their coverage (dispersed within the parcel in question) have been specified, thus helping to ensure the desired varietal origin of the olive oil. To avoid any ambiguity during the inspection, the way of assessing the compliance of the varietal coverage of the holding with the percentages set has likewise been clarified: ‘The compliance of the varietal coverage is assessed on the basis of all parcels producing the designation of origin, except in the case of the pollinator varieties, for which the share is assessed on the basis of each parcel in question’. It has also been stated that, of the initially specified varieties, the colombale, estoublaisse, filaïre, grappier and rosée-du-Mont-d’Or varieties form part of the ‘old local’ varieties, because they were planted before the frost of 1956 but are represented by a significant number of trees in the production area.

— Aglandau variety: The deadline set in 2014 — initially indicated in the summary and the specification — for achieving the minimum percentage of 80 % for the main variety has been deleted, since this deadline has already been reached.

— Planting density: The original provision stating that ‘each tree base must have a minimum area of 24 square metres’ has been clarified and supplemented in order to avoid any ambiguity and to facilitate inspections. The term ‘tree base’ has been replaced by the more accurate term ‘tree’, the method for calculating the density has been specified (the ‘area is obtained by multiplying the two inter-row distances and the space between trees’), particularly in the case of terraced plantations (the minimum distance between trees takes into account the height of the terrace), and a minimum distance between trees has also been introduced (4 metres).

— Intercropping: A ban on intercropping in groves with the PDO has been introduced in order to avoid competition with the olive trees, especially when they are young. However, in accordance with local customs, fruit trees not considered to affect the product’s final quality may be grown in olive groves provided that they do not represent more than 5 % of the total number of trees on the parcel in question.

— Pruning: In order to document good pruning practices, it has been specified that the pruning debris must be removed from the groves before the next harvest, and a reference to the possibility to crush them on the spot has been added.

— Irrigation: The irrigation deadline — initially set according to the date when colours begin to turn for each variety — has been replaced by a fixed date, 30 September, in order to facilitate implementation and inspection.

— Age when the trees start producing: For purposes of drafting clarification, it has been specified that the age when the trees with the designation of origin start producing — set at 5 years — is ‘after the planting of the tree on the parcel’ (parcel with the designation of origin).

— Yield: The method for calculating yield has been specified such as to avoid any ambiguity. It has therefore been indicated that yield must be calculated with regard to the ‘production harvested’ (and not the total production of the tree, including olives that fall to the ground and are not collected or covered by the designation), ‘irrespective of the intended use of the olives’ and ‘on average’ on the holding.

— Harvesting: Various provisions relating to harvesting have been introduced: the procedure for opening and closing the harvest year to ensure that the olives are harvested when they have reached the desired sufficient state of ripeness, the authorised harvesting methods (authorised mechanical harvesting methods, ban on the use of ‘permanent’ nets) to maintain local practices contributing to the production of high-quality oil using sound olives that remain intact.

— Ripeness and health status of the olives used and delivery times: In order to ensure the specificity of the product related, among other things, to the state of ripeness of the harvested olives, the degree of ripeness of the olives used has been specified according to the traditional harvest period of olives in Haute-Provence: the consignments do not contain more than 30 % of black olives. The provision on the soundness of the olives used has been supplemented by defining maximum thresholds for olives with defects: ‘The total share of worm-infested, bird-pecked, congealed or browned olives must be less than 10 % of the number of olives in each batch.’ Mouldy or fermented olives are not covered by the designation of origin.’ The purpose of this provision is to clarify the concept of ‘sound olives’ in order to better guarantee the final quality of the product. The deadlines for ‘harvesting and delivery’ and ‘harvesting and crushing’ have been reduced to 3 days and to 6 days, respectively, instead of 4 days and 7 days, in order to take account of current practices favouring the production of high-quality oil.

— Oil production: The maximum temperature of the olive paste has been reduced to 27 °C instead of 30 °C (throughout the processing chain) to take account of changes to rules governing the words ‘cold pressing’. The processes and treatments authorised have been listed (‘no treatments are authorised before extraction, except for washing and pitting, and after extraction, except for decanting, centrifuging and filtration’), thus stating clearly the possibility of pitting the olives before extracting the oil. It is specified that ‘Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence’ comes from a blend of varieties in the same proportions as those defined for the groves. The production of monovarietal oil of the aglandau variety has been authorised.

Labelling

The wording of labels specifically referring to the designation has been brought into line with Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012. The European Union’s PDO logo and the words ‘appellation d’origine protégée’ (protected designation of origin) are among the references that must be included on labels for products covered by the designation of origin ‘Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence’.

Other: inspections, updating of the contact details of the inspection bodies and of the applicant group, and link

— In the light of changes to national legislation and rules, the section ‘National requirements’ is presented as a checklist in the form of a table with reference values and evaluation methods for each point.

— The sections ‘References to the inspection bodies’ and ‘Responsible department in the Member State’: the name and the contact details of the official inspection bodies and of the group have been updated.

— Link: the elements relating to the history of the designation deleted from the section ‘Proof of origin’ have been transferred, in part, to the section ‘Link with the geographical area’, which has been reorganised in order to further explain the specific characteristics of the geographical area and those of the product and the causal link between the specific characteristics of the geographical area and those of the product.

SINGLE DOCUMENT

‘HUILE D’OLIVE DE HAUTE-PROVENCE’

EU No: FR-PDO-0105-01340 — 27.5.2015

PDO ( X ) PGI ( )

1. Name(s)

‘Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence’

2. Member State or Third Country

France

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1. Type of product

Class 1.5 — Oils and fats (butter, margarine, oil, etc.)

3.2. Description of the product to which the name in (1) applies

‘Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence’ is an olive oil characterised by:

— a yellow visual appearance with green reflections that disappear gradually;

— an intense smell dominated by aromas of raw artichoke, apple, banana, freshly cut grass and fresh almond, either combined or alone;

— the taste is delicate, with a dominant flavour of raw artichoke and secondary flavours of banana, grass, apple and fresh almond, either combined or present alone.

Prior to first marketing, the pungency (called ‘fieriness’ later in this document) is greater than or equal to 2 and the bitterness greater than or equal to 1 according to the organoleptic scale of the International Olive Council (IOC).

The free acidity, expressed as oleic acid, must not exceed 0,8 g/100 g of olive oil. The peroxide value is restricted to 15 milliequivalents of oxygen peroxide for each kilogramme of olive oil when first marketed.

3.3. Feed (for products of animal origin only) and raw materials (for processed products only)

‘Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence’ is obtained from olives or oils from the following varieties:

— aglandau (80-100 %)

— picholine, bouteillan, tanche and old local varieties (varieties planted before the frost of 1956 and represented by a significant number of trees in the production area) (0-20 %).

3.4. Specific steps in production that must take place in the defined geographical area

All of the processes, from the production of the olives to their transformation into olive oil, are carried out within the defined geographical area.

3.5. Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc. of the product the registered name refers to

—

3.6. Specific rules concerning labelling of the product the registered name refers to

The labelling of oils with the ‘Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence’ designation of origin must include:

— The name of the ‘Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence’ designation and the words ‘appellation d’origine protégée’ (protected designation of origin). These words must all be in the same field of vision and on the same label. They 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.

— The European Union PDO logo.

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

The geographical area extends over the territory of the following municipalities:

The department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence:

— The municipalities of Digne-les-Bains, Entrepierres, Revest-des-Brousses, Simiane-la-Rotonde and Sisteron.

— The municipalities of the cantons of Digne-les-Bains-Ouest, except for the municipalities of Le Castellard-Mélan, Hautes-Duyes and Thoard, Forcalquier, Manosque-Sud-Est, Manosque-Nord, Manosque-Sud-Ouest, Les Mées, Mézel, except for the municipality of Majastres, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, except for the municipality of La Palud-sur-Verdon, Peyruis, Reillanne, Riez, Saint-Étienne-les-Orgues, except for the municipalities of Lardiers and Saint-Étienne-les-Orgues, Valensole and Volonne.

The department of Bouches-du-Rhône: Jouques, Saint-Paul-lès-Durance.

The department of the Var: Ginasservis, Rians, Saint-Julien, Vinon-sur-Verdon.

The Department of Vaucluse: La Bastide-des-Jourdans, Beaumont-de-Pertuis, Grambois, Mirabeau, Peypin-d’Aigues and Vitrolles-en-Lubéron.

5. Link with the geographical area

Specificity of the geographical area

The distinctive features of the geographical area of the designation are, on the one hand, the geographical unit formed by the Durance valley and, on the other, its high-lying position (400 to 750 m).

The soils in the geographical area have common characteristics, such as their stoniness (puddling stones from the Oligocene Epoch, pebbles, angular, flattened elements often composed of gelifracted material) and calcium content (all the soils are carbonated).

In addition, Haute-Provence features a Mediterranean-Provençal type of climate with a continental influence characterised by hot dry summers but also by occasionally low, mainly negative, night-time and winter temperatures, an annual temperature range that is very high (between 17 °C and 18 °C on average) as well as a daily range of temperature that varies greatly and thermal inversion phenomena.

There were references to the cultivation of olive trees in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence back in the Middle Ages. Olive tree cultivation was at its most extensive in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a period during which it resisted serious frosts better than elsewhere.

Over the centuries, people were able to select the varieties best adapted to the local climate, in particular the aglandau, which became the dominant variety. The olive trees are planted on man-made terraces (a succession of nearly horizontal parcels separated by retaining walls made of dry stones with no binding substance, to compensate for the natural gradient of the ground). Traditionally the olives are harvested throughout the geographical area when still rather green, during the month of November, over a relatively short period of no more than 55 days.

‘Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence’ is highly appreciated by consumers owing to its reputation and quality. For a long time now, the quality of ‘Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence’ has been recognised and regularly rewarded at various local, regional and national competitions.

Specificity of the product

The specificity of ‘Huile d’olive de Haute-Provence’ is related, in particular, to the predominant use of the aglandau variety, which represents 80 % to 100 % of the varieties making up the oil. The oil obtained has a good structure and it is fine and rich in aromas, which are characterised by raw artichoke, apple, banana, freshly cut grass and fresh almond. Generally, the oil’s marked fieriness exceeds its bitterness, and its yellow colour with green reflections is typical, in particular at the beginning of the season.

Causal link

Owing to the terrain, which results from the high-lying position of the geographical area, and to the characteristics of the Mediterranean climate with a continental influence, the olive trees must be cultivated principally on terraces. The dry-stone retaining walls of the terraces make it possible to drain the soil during wet weather but also to re-supply the soil with water during periods of drought (by condensation of the ambient air humidity at night). They regulate the temperature by storing solar energy, thereby protecting the harvest at the onset of cold weather and the durability of the olive trees, which are sometimes at risk during the coldest weather occurring in the geographical area, usually in February. The stony, carbonated soils have a fine, sandy loam matrix typical of the geographical area, and they are particularly suitable for growing olive trees, which thrive in aerated and well-drained soils. Over the centuries, the combination of the soil and climate characteristics exerted varietal selection pressure that led to the emergence of the aglandau as the dominant variety. Despite their late ripening, the fruits of the aglandau, which are harvested in November, resist well frosts occurring at the peak of the harvest. Frosts of exceptional intensity, which occur two or three times a century, have gradually sealed the success of the aglandau. This variety is present almost everywhere in Provence, though it is strongly dominant only in Haute-Provence.

The presence of the aglandau in the groves and in the composition of the oil, where its minimum share is 80 % of the different varieties used, has a determining influence on the characteristics of the oil and distinguishes it clearly from other oils. Despite its late ripening, the fruits of this variety have a low water content and an oil content at the time of harvest that guarantee a good resistance to the first autumn frosts, which do not affect the quality of the oil. However, the olives are harvested before the intense frosts, which occur most often in the last two weeks of December. As a consequence, the proportion of olives that are still green is often high during harvest. The fat-soluble chlorophyll they contain gives the oil its typical green reflections in the first few weeks after production. Over time, the oil gradually loses those green tinges without any alteration of the organoleptic characteristics of the oils, which subsequently display a hue with golden highlights. Indeed, the chlorophyll pigments are degraded when subjected to light. The oils are also rich in polyphenols, elements of fieriness and bitterness, which serve to ensure the proper preservation of these oils over time.

Reference to publication of the specification

(the second subparagraph of Article 6(1) of this Regulation)

https://info.agriculture.gouv.fr/gedei/site/bo-agri/document_administratif-5703c586-9a23-41bb-8b07-0b449c7ecead

(1) OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1.