WRITTEN QUESTION E-0036/02 by Luciano Caveri (ELDR) to the Commission. Use of the term mountain for agricultural products.
Date: 2002-01-23
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: approximation of laws, designation of origin, foodstuff, location of production, product designation

18.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 172 E/131

(2002/C 172 E/134)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0035/02

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(23 January 2002)

Subject: Construction of a landfill facility in Novellara (Reggio Emilia)

In March 2001 an agreement on the relocation to Novellara of a category 2, type B landfill facility
(excluding hazardous waste) was signed by the Reggio Emilia provincial council, the Novellara local
council and the Unieco, Sabar and Agac companies.

This decision has been opposed by local
including
Legambiente, which has taken the matter to the regional administrative court, asking for the agreement
to be set aside.

residents and various environmental groups,

Can the Commission establish whether the relocation and construction of the above facility in Novellara
complies with all the relevant European environmental and public health laws?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(7 March 2002)

The Commission has the task of ensuring the correct application of Community law, in the light of the
powers conferred on it by the EC Treaty. As the guardian of the EC Treaty, it does not hesitate to take all
necessary measures, including infringement procedures under Article 226 of the EC Treaty, in order to
ensure the observance of Community law.

In the specific situations pointed out by the Honourable Member, the Directive on environmental impact
assessment, Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985, on the assessment of the effects of certain
public and private projects on the environment (1) whether before or after being amended by Council
Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997 (2) constitutes the possibly relevant Community law.

However, on the basis of the information given by the Honourable Member, due to a lack of grounds of
complaint on the application of Community law, no breach of it can be identified at present. Should the
Honourable Member provide detailed information enabling the Commission to assess the issues in relation
to the above mentioned directive, the Commission would also be able to investigate this matter.

(1) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.
(2) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.

(2002/C 172 E/135)

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.

C 172 E/132

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.7.2002

Given the above, would the Commission state:

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

B 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 B
which require a direct link between the quality or the characteristics of a product and its specific
geographical origin B 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 B 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 B 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 B OJ L 208, 24.7.1992.

(2002/C 172 E/136)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0047/02

by Miquel Mayol i Raynal (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

Subject: National markings on vehicle number plates

(16 January 2002)

The new EU-format number plate is meeting resistance from some of the inhabitants of Catalonia and the
Basque Country, who refuse to have the State symbol
imposed on them. Several cultural
movements in these countries have produced stickers on which the E or the F is replaced by CAT
(Catalunya) or EUS (Euskadi).

(E or F)