WRITTEN QUESTION E-0036/02

by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission

(23 January 2002)

Subject: Use of the term mountain for agricultural products

Article 15 of Italian Law No 97 of 31 December 1994 laying down new provisions for mountain areas set out a series of measures to enable the designation Italian mountain product to be used for foodstuffs. This law was subsequently repealed at the Commission's behest, on the grounds that it ran counter to the PDO and PGI systems established under Community law.

More recently, under Decree No 2000-1231 of 15 December 2000 France laid down rules governing the use of the term mountain for foodstuffs, subject to authorisation by the Commission.

Given the above, would the Commission state:

- whether these two pieces of legislation differ from one another, and if so, in what way?

- what changes Italy would need to make to Law No 97 of 13 December 1994 in order for it to be acceptable to the Community authorities?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(21 February 2002)

In its judgement in the Pistre case of 07.5.1997 (joined cases C-321/94 and C-324/94), the Court of Justice stated that French point of law at issue in this case, namely that the use of the designation montagne be restricted exclusively to products manufactured within France from raw materials of French origin, constituted an infringement of Article 28 of the EC treaty. The Court of Justice upheld the de jure and de facto entitlement of other Member States to use this designation for all their agricultural products and food that meet the pre-defined quality standards.

To comply with this judgment, the French authorities notified the Commission, under the procedure instituted by Directive 98/34/EC(1), of their intention to issue a draft decree that would allow all Community products located in a mountain area as defined in Article 18 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999(2) to use the designation montagne. However, since the first draft of this decree established a prior authorisation procedure that in practice proved to be unworkable for products originating from other Member States, the French authorities, in response to formal objections raised by the Commission, amended Article 1 of the decree so as to restrict this authorisation procedure exclusively to products originating in France. The definitive version of the decree was the one that was issued on 15.12.2000, as referred to by the Honourable Member. The Italian authorities, for their part, had passed legislation under which the designation Italian mountain product would apply solely to products originating in Italian mountain areas and benefiting from a protected designation of origin or a protected geographical indication within the meaning of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 of 14 July 1992(3).

The Commission however was of the opinion that the desire to provide protection for the products in question could not justify the unilateral creation of such a narrowly restricted designation. If, as seems highly unlikely, the Italian authorities had also requested that the designation Italian mountain product be registered under Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92, the restrictive provisions of that Regulation's Article 2 which require a direct link between the quality or the characteristics of a product and its specific geographical origin could not in any event have applied to different categories of products which, moreover, originate from a loosely defined geographical area. This much was pointed out by the Court of Justice in paragraphs 35 and following of the grounds to its judgment in the Pistre case (see above), applicable mutatis mutandis.

(1) Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations OJ L 204, 21.7.1998.

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) and amending and repealing certain Regulations OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.

(3) Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 of 14 July 1992 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs OJ L 208, 24.7.1992.