WRITTEN QUESTION P-0848/03

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(13 March 2003)

Subject: Authenticity label for Italian restaurants in the EU

A few months ago the Italian Institute for External Trade (ICE) conducted a survey which established that there exist between 55 000 and 60 000 Italian or Italian-style restaurants over the world's five continents, of which a good 25 000 are to be found in the EU Member States. However, only 20-25 % of these can be considered authentic, in the sense of using products exported from Italy and offering dishes and recipes that are genuinely Italian. It further appears that many of these restaurants exhibit, by way of their signs, names referring directly or indirectly to Italy, and may even abusively employ terms that are governed by protected designations of origin (PDOs) (as in the case of a Belgian restaurant calling itself Ricotta e Parmesan).

All of this is possible because to date Italian recipes have not been codified and there is no specific label to distinguish genuine Italian restaurants from their inauthentic counterparts. This means that, as things stand, anyone can use the Italian brand-name, thus appropriating a label which can generate considerable added value on the market. It should be sufficient to recall that, in 2002 alone, the total value of Italy's exports of food products was EUR 13,5 billion.

In the absence of measures to protect the thousands of traditional Italian recipes, the average European consumer is offered no protection when faced with a choice in a restaurant between an authentic and an inauthentic product.

This is not the case with, for example, French cuisine, which is properly codified thanks to Escoffier.

Can the Commission state:

1. whether it considers that the rules on PDO/PGI products could be extended to cover restaurant signs, with a view to preventing the abusive employment of such names;

2. whether it believes it possible to introduce an international register which would recognise an authenticity label to be awarded to Italian restaurants in the EU;

3. what measures it intends to take to deal with the legislative vacuum that now exists, in contravention of consumer protection and competition law?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(25 April 2003)

The aim of the existing Community rules on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin is to provide for the effective and efficient protection of registered names from direct or indirect misappropriation and improper use.

These rules apply to the commercialisation of products for which the name has actually been registered, and thus protected. As a result, it would not seem to be possible to use these rules to prohibit the improper use of names registered by restaurants.

The Commission has no intention of proposing that these rules be extended to restaurants.

The Commission is aware of the creation of an authenticity label for Italian restaurants which is being introduced by the Italian authorities and associations concerned by this problem. It seems that the intention is to try out this initiative by means of a pilot project in Belgium, and then in the United States and Japan. This tool could offer an initial answer to the improper use of designations of origin such as Italy or of PGI/PDO in restaurants.

Such steps, along with the effective use of other existing national and/or Community provisions to protect the consumer against the risks of confusion and/or unfair competition, would appear to suffice.

The Commission does not therefore consider it necessary to compile an international register of restaurants, but to make effective use of existing tools to prevent certain restaurants from misleading consumers and misappropriating names which are protected by Community legislation.