Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the 'Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive amending Directive 79/112/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs` () (97/C 287/12)

On 27 February 1997, the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 100a of the Treaty establishing the European Community on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Protection of the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Affairs, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 15 May 1997. The rapporteur was Mr Maurer, co-rapporteurs Mrs Davison and Miss Maddocks.

At its 346th plenary session (meeting of 28 May 1997), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 67 votes to seven with seven abstentions.

1. Introduction

1.1. The Council has still to introduce a comprehensive labelling system listing the ingredients and additives contained in wine and other alcoholic beverages.

1.2. The European Commission is now seeking not only to tackle the long overdue assimilation of European Court of Justice case-law, but also to comply with the requirement, most recently reiterated by the European Parliament, to implement Article 6(3) of Directive 79/112/EEC. As part of harmonization of EU labelling law, the European Commission is thus making a third attempt to regulate the provision of information relating to ingredients and, if applicable, alcohol content, on the labelling of beverages containing more than 1,2 % by volume of alcohol.

1.3. The inclusion of alcoholic beverages in the directive is a move that is both welcome and long overdue. The proposal may, however, discriminate against certain classes of beverages.

1.4. This new proposal takes account of criticisms voiced during discussions on previous proposals, regarding, for example, the time-limit of three years from 1 July 1998 for adopting specific Community rules for labelling the ingredients of all beverages containing more than 1,2 % alcohol by volume.

1.5. In contrast to previous proposals, the new proposal is short and to the point. Problems relating to specific details are to be removed from the Council's remit and resolved by cooperation among the institutions within the purview of comitology.

2. General comments

2.1. The Economic and Social Committee sees the proposal as a first step to ensure appropriate labelling of alcoholic beverages, and wishes to underline the need to take into account all additives which present potential health risks for the consumer when establishing the rules for labelling the ingredients of beverages containing more than 1,2 % alcohol by volume.

The ESC backs the proposal, subject to the following specific comments.

3. Specific comments

3.1. To consolidate the new approach to consumer information and to promote fair competition, the proposed wording of Article 6(3) of Directive 79/112/EEC should be as follows:

'In accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 17, the rules for labelling the ingredients of beverages containing more than 1,2 % alcohol by volume shall be adopted within a period of three years starting on 1 July 1998.

The rules adopted in accordance with these procedures shall be framed in such in a way that they do not discriminate between the classes of products covered and shall enter into force simultaneously for all beverages.

For all these products the list of ingredients shall be preceded by the words "prepared with..." or an equivalent form of wording.`

3.2. The reasons are the following:

3.2.1. The European Parliament has drawn its own conclusions from the BSE crisis and, in a new strategy, is advocating greater transparency in food legislation. The same demand was also made in the ESC opinion on the BSE crisis (). The European Commission endorses this approach, an integral part of which is judged to be referral to independent committees. The Standing Committee on Foodstuffs is an independent body whose remit it is to assess rules governing foodstuffs. The procedure laid down in Article 17 of Directive 79/112/EEC is an appropriate way to ensure the desired transparency becomes a reality and should be applied to all the foodstuffs concerned.

3.2.2. The proposal specifies the common market organization committees are to have the remit for wine - including sparkling wines, liqueur wines and semi-sparkling wines - as well as partially fermented grape must, spirituous beverages and aromatized wines. The ESC considers that these committees are ill-suited to the consumer protection requirements of the new approach and refers to its previous opinions dealing with foodstuffs legislation, which stated that the Standing Committee procedure should always involve prior consultation of the various socio-economic partners represented on the Advisory Committee for Food ().

3.2.3. Moreover, in practical terms, the procedure laid down in Article 17 of Directive 79/112/EEC also takes account of the need to avoid discriminating between alcoholic beverages.

3.2.4. Consumers are given the same information by phrases such as 'distilled from`, 'brewed from`, etc. as by the words 'prepared with`. Such phrases may be more correct than the proposed wording since some ingredients mutate during the fermentation process.

Brussels, 28 May 1997.

The President of the Economic and Social Committee

Tom JENKINS

() OJ C 106, 4. 4. 1997, p. 5.

() OJ C 295, 7. 10. 1996.

() Cf. ESC opinions on extraction solvents (OJ C 66, 3. 3. 1997) and on food additives (OJ C 75, 10. 3. 1997).