WRITTEN QUESTION P-0702/03 by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Infringement by Italy of Community legislation on cheese.
Date: 2003-03-03
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, derogation from EU law, health legislation, infringement procedure (EU), marketing, milk product, national implementing measure

15.1.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 11 E/111

(2004/C 11 E/110)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0702/03

by Raffaele Costa (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(3 March 2003)

Subject: Infringement by Italy of Community legislation on cheese

In July 2001 the Commission launched infringement proceedings against Italy, pursuant to Article 226 of
the Treaty, for its infringement of Directive 92/46/EEC (1) with regard to cheese, more specifically because
Italy did not take steps to notify derogations from the health rules for the production of cheeses with a
period of ageing of at least 60 days, as envisaged in Article 8(1) of the Directive.

Can the Commission say what point has been reached in the infringement proceedings and whether it has
reached a conclusion after assessing the Italian Government’s reply to the Commission’s reasoned opinion?

(1) OJ L 268, 14.9.1992, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(31 March 2003)

The Commission did indeed launch infringement proceedings against Italy in December 2000 under the
terms of Article 226 of the EC Treaty because this Member State had incorrectly transposed Council
Directive 92/46/EEC of 16 June 1992 laying down the health rules for the production and placing on the
market of raw milk, heat-treated milk and milk-based products.

Article 8 of this Directive stipulates that, by committee procedures, Member States may, in so far as certain
requirements of the Directive are likely to affect the manufacture of milk-based products with traditional
characteristics, be authorised to grant individual or general derogations from certain requirements of the
Directive.

As Italy had not submitted a request to this effect by 1 October 1993, as required by the Directive, the
Commission took the view that Italy was not authorised to maintain in its legislation the derogation
permitting the manufacture of butter or other milk-based products from creams or whey produced using
the raw-milk processing procedure that did not meet the Community health standards set out in Directive
92/46/EEC.

Given that Italy maintained that the derogation was not liable to create a risk for human health, the
Commission launched a technical dialogue with this Member State to examine the consequences of the
Italian measure. It should be pointed out in this respect that the Council reached a political agreement in
December 2002 on a proposal for a regulation concerning the hygiene of foodstuffs, which will replace
Directive 92/46/EEC, among other legislation.

This draft regulation allows Member States, under certain conditions, to request a derogation from the
hygiene rules set out in the regulation.

The Commission is in close contact with the Italian authorities and has asked them to provide it with a
detailed technical file so that it can check whether a derogation of this kind can be contemplated under the
terms of the new regulation.

In the light of the above and pending receipt of this file, the Commission has provisionally postponed its
decision on whether to pursue the infringement proceedings.