WRITTEN QUESTION E-1472/02

by Sebastiano Musumeci (UEN) to the Commission

(27 May 2002)

Subject: Amendment of the rules on tomato derivatives

The Mediterranean Member States are the largest producers of processed tomato products.

Under the Commission's proposal for a regulation amending the existing rules on tomato derivatives, there would be a considerable reduction in the minimum level of tomato content in processed products marketed in Europe, and the provisions laying down requirements for peel, pulp and paste would be abolished.

This proposal for a regulation, if adopted, would open up the gates to the marketing of low-quality products, with less dry matter and more water in tomato concentrates.

The Commission:

1. Can it explain the reasoning behind its proposal for a regulation, which, if adopted, would encourage the production of low-quality food products?

2. Does it not consider that this undesirable legislative change would visibly contradict the objective of preserving the quality and specific characteristics of those typically European products which are a source of great social, economic and cultural benefit, such as the Mediterranean tomato?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(26 June 2002)

The Commission has not prepared and does not plan to prepare a draft Regulation amending Community marketing standards for products derived from tomatoes, quite simply because no such standards exist.

Only in the context of the aid scheme for tomatoes intended for processing (Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 of 28 October 1996 on the common organisation of the markets in processed fruit and vegetable products(1)) does Article 1 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 449/2001(2) laying down detailed rules for applying Regulation (EC) No 2201/96 define the main products processed from tomatoes. These are in no way trade names or marketing standards but definitions of products or groups of products used solely for managing and monitoring the aid scheme at the processing stage.

Peeled tomatoes and concentrates are subject to marketing standards in Italy, however, under national Regulation No 96 of 10 March 1969.

A regulatory approach specifically defining finished products was justifiable while Community aid was being paid for processed products. It was logical to define precisely which products were eligible for that aid. Since the reform of the sector in 2000, however, Community aid has no longer been granted for processed products but for the raw material i.e. for tomatoes supplied to the processing industry. The question is therefore whether the old rules, derived from obsolete regulations, still have to be upheld.

The draft Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 449/01 concerns inter alia some of the definitions referred to above. In any case, as explained above, any amendment of that Regulation would not affect trade names or marketing standards and guarantees in force.

The draft was issued at the end of April 2002 for finalisation after consulting the trade and Member States, in accordance with the Commission's commitment to transparency.

Any interpretation whereby the Commission was intending to amend the standards in force on products derived from tomatoes is therefore completely unfounded.

(1) OJ L 297, 21.11.1996.

(2) OJ L 64, 6.3.2001.