REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs
Date: 2017-12-11
Institutions: Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission
Subjects: agricultural product, consumer information, delegated legislation, designation of origin, foodstuff, labelling, mountain region, powers of the institutions (EU), product designation, quality control of agricultural products

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 11.12.2017  COM(2017) 743 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs   
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission 
pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and 
foodstuffs  

1.  

INTRODUCTION 

Regulation  (EU)  No  1151/2012  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  21 
November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs1, which repealed 
Council Regulations (EC) No 510/2006 of 20 March 2006 on the protection of geographical 
indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs2 and 509/2006 
of  20  March  2006  on  agricultural  products  and  foodstuffs  as  traditional  specialities 
guaranteed3, is the basic act for EU Quality schemes on agricultural products and foodstuffs. 
It  improved  and  updated  the  framework  for  the  protection  and  promotion  of  quality 
agricultural products. In particular, the scope of the protection was extended to new products, 
some definitions were aligned to TRIPS (Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual 
Property Rights), the protection was enhanced, registration and amendment procedures were 
streamlined,  the  use  of  the  symbols  for  Protected  Designation  of  Origin  (PDO),  Protected 
Geographical  Indication  (PGI)  and  Traditional  Speciality  Guaranteed  (TSG)  became 
compulsory  for  products  of  EU  origin,  the  TSG  scheme  was  strengthened,  the  rules  on 
controls were clarified and a scheme for optional quality terms was established.  

The second subparagraph of Article 2(1), Article 5(4), the first subparagraph of Article 7(2), 
the first subparagraph of Article 12(7), Article 16(2), Article 18(5), the first subparagraph of 
Article 19(2), the first subparagraph of Article 23(4), Article 25(3), Article 29(4), Article 30, 
Article 31(3) and (4), Article 41(3), Article 42(2), the first subparagraph of Article 49(7), the 
first  subparagraph  of  Article  51(6),  the  first  subparagraph  of  Article  53(3)  and  the  first 
subparagraph of Article 54(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 empower the Commission 
to adopt delegated acts in order to supplement Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 with regard to 
the  following  subject  matters,  respectively:  the  list  of  products  set  out  in  Annex  I  to 
Regulation  (EU)  No  1151/2012;  restrictions  and  derogations  with  regard  to  the  sourcing  of 
feed in the case of a PDO and with regard to the slaughtering of live animals and the sourcing 
of raw materials in the case of a PDO or a PGI; rules which limit the information contained in 
the product specification for a PDO and a PGI where such a limitation is necessary to avoid 
excessively voluminous applications for registration; the establishment of the Union symbols 
for  a  PDO  and  a  PGI;  additional  transitional  rules  on  PDO/PGI  to  protect  the  rights  and 
legitimate interests of producers and stakeholders; further details on the eligibility criteria for 

1  

2 

3 

OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1. 

OJ L 93, 31.3.2006, p. 12. 

OJ L 93, 31.3.2006, p. 1. 

2 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
a  TSG;  rules  which  limit  the  information  contained  in  the  product  specification  for  a  TSG 
where  such  a  limitation  is  necessary  to  avoid  excessively  voluminous  applications  for 
registration; the establishment of the Union symbol for a TSG; additional transitional rules on 
TSG to protect the rights and legitimate interests of producers and stakeholders; detailed rules 
relating to the criteria for optional quality terms; the reservation and the establishment of, and 
amendment to, the conditions of use of additional optional quality terms; the derogation from 
the conditions of use of the optional quality term "mountain product" in particular as regards 
the conditions under which raw materials or feedstuffs are permitted to come from outside the 
mountain  areas,  the  conditions  under  which  the  processing  of  products  is  permitted  to  take 
place outside of the mountain areas in a geographical area to be defined, and the definition of 
that  geographical  area;  the  establishment  of  the  methods  of  production,  and  other  criteria 
relevant for the application of the optional quality term "mountain product"; additional rules 
for determining the generic status of generic terms; rules for determining the use of the name 
of  a  plant  variety  or  of  an  animal  breed;  rules  for  carrying  out  the  national  objection 
territory  and 
procedure  for 
complementing  the  rules  of  the  application  process;  the  completion  of  the  rules  of  the 
opposition  procedure;  the  completion  of  the  rules  of  the  amendment  application  process 
including  where  it  concerns  a  temporary  change  in  the  specification  resulting  from  the 
imposition  of  obligatory  sanitary  or  phytosanitary  measures  by  the  public  authorities;  the 
completion of the rules regarding the cancellation process. 

joint  applications  concerning  more 

than  one  national 

2.  

LEGAL BASIS 

This  report  is  required  under  Article  56(2)  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  1151/2012.  Pursuant  to 
that provision, the power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission for a period 
of five years from 3 January 2013. The delegation of power is tacitly extended for periods of 
an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council opposes such extension 
not later than three months before the end of each period.  

3. 

EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION 

The  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts  was  exercised  to  ensure  the  correct  and  efficient 
functioning  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  1151/2012,  to  ensure  a  smooth  transition  to  the  new 
scheme  from  Council  Regulations  (EC)  No  510/2006  on  the  protection  of  geographical 
indications and  designations of origin  for agricultural  products  and  foodstuffs and  (EC)  No 
509/2006 on agricultural products and foodstuffs as traditional specialities guaranteed and to 
ensure  the  fair  and  consistent  application  of  Article  31  of  the  Regulation  concerning  the 
optional quality term "mountain product".     

The Commission has used that power with restraint, by adopting two delegated regulations: 
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 664/2014 of 18 December 2013 supplementing 
Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to 
the  establishment  of  the  Union  symbols  for  protected  designations  of  origin,  protected 
geographical  indications  and  traditional  specialities  guaranteed  and  with  regard  to  certain 
rules  on  sourcing,  certain  procedural  rules  and  certain  additional  transitional  rules4  and 
Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  No  665/2014  of  11  March  2014  supplementing 

4  

OJ L 179, 19.6.2014, p. 17. 

3 

 
 
                                                            
Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to 
conditions of use of the optional quality term ‘mountain product’5. 

No  further  use  of  the  empowerment  under  the  Articles  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  1151/2012 
empowering  the  Commission  to  adopt  delegated  acts  is  currently  envisaged  by  the 
Commission. 

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 664/2014 provides for specific rules on sourcing 
of feed for protected designations of origin and on the origin of raw materials for protected 
geographical  indications  (Article  1),  establishes  the  Union  symbols  (Article  2),  fixes  the 
maximum length for the product specifications for traditional specialities guaranteed (Article 
3),  clarifies  rules  on  opposition  procedure  for  joint  applications  (Article  4),  settles  the 
obligation for the applicant to notify the Commission all the relevant information concerning 
an  agreement  reached  in  the  context  of  an  opposition  procedure  (Article  5),  specifies 
procedural rules for non-minor amendments, minor amendments and temporary amendments 
(Article 6), makes cancellation the subject of a formal procedure by aligning it to the standard 
registration  procedure  as  laid  down  in  Articles  49  to  52  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  1151/2012 
(Article  7),  provides  for  transitional  rules  on  publication  of  single  documents  for  protected 
designations  of  origin  and  protected  geographical  indications  registered  prior  to  31  March 
2006  and  on  the  conditions  of  use  of  symbols  to  be  applied  until  3  January  2016,  as  from 
which the new regime on conditions of use of symbols, indications and abbreviations as set 
out in Articles 12(3) and 23(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 will be applied (Article 8), 
repeals  Commission  Regulations  (EC)  No  1898/2006  laying  down  detailed  rules  of 
implementation  of Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006  on the protection of geographical 
indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs6 and (EC) No 
1216/2007  laying  down  detailed  rules  for  the  implementation  of  Council  Regulation  (EC) 
No 509/2006  on  agricultural  products  and  foodstuffs  as  traditional  specialities  guaranteed7 
(Article 9). 

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 665/2014 lays down criteria for the application 
of the term ‘mountain product’ to products of animal origin (Article 1), clarifies for different 
types  of  animal,  the  requirement  that  feedstuffs  come  essentially  from  mountain  areas 
(Article 2), lays down criteria for the application of the term ‘mountain product’ to products 
of  beekeeping  (Article  3),  lays  down  criteria  for  the  application  of  the  term  ‘mountain 
product’ to products of plant origin (Article 4), lists the ingredients of products of plant and 
animal  origin  that  may  be  sourced  from  outside  mountain  areas  (Article  5),  and  establishes 
what  processing  operations  may  take  place  within  a  certain  distance  of  mountain  areas 
(Article 6). 

In line with the common understanding on delegated acts, during the preparation of the acts 
Member State experts were consulted in the Expert Group for the Sustainability and Quality 
of Agriculture and Rural Development. The Commission, ensured a simultaneous, timely and 

5  

6  

7  

OJ L 179, 19.6.2014, p. 23. 

OJ L 369, 23.12.2006, p. 1. 

OJ L 275, 19.10.2007, p. 3. 

4 

 
 
                                                            
appropriate  transmission  of  the  relevant  documents  to  the  European  Parliament  and  to  the 
Council.  

The  Commission  adopted  the  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  No  664/2014  on  18 
December 2013 and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 665/2014 on 11 March 
2014.  They  were  then  both  notified  to  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  to  allow 
these Institutions to express objection within two months from the notification of the act.  

As  regards  the  Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  No  664/2014,  the  period  of  two 
months from the notification of the act for the European Parliament or the Council to express 
their  objection,  provided  for  in  Article  56(5)  of  Regulation  (EU)  No  1151/2012,  was 
extended for two months on the initiative of the Council.  

Neither the European Parliament nor the Council issued any objection to the two Delegated 
Regulations.  After  the  expiry  of  the  respective  periods,  the  Commission  Delegated 
Regulation (EU) No 664/2014 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union L 
179 of 19 June 2014 and entered into force on 22 June 2014, and the Commission Delegated 
Regulation  (EU)  No  665/2014  was  published  in  the  same  Official  Journal  of  the  European 
Union and entered into force on 26 June 2014. 

4.  

CURRENT SITUATION 

The two above-mentioned Delegated Regulations have satisfactorily reached the objective of 
supplementing  Regulation  (EU)  No  1151/2012  with  the  necessary  rules  to  have  it  properly 
and efficiently fonctioning.   

No  request  has  been  received  from  Member  States  as  to  delegated  powers  possibly  be 
additionally conferred to the Commission or substracted. There were no expectations raised 
for a change of the balance of powers set out in Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012. Likewise, no 
request for amendment of the two Delegated Regulations has been received.  

While difficulties with the application and interpretation of the two Delegated Regulations at 
stake  were  not  experienced  during  the  three  years  of  their  application,  the  legal,  economic 
and  factual  context  relevant  to  them  evolves  continuously.  The  extension  of  the  delegation 
powers for another 5 years period is, therefore, advisable in order to allow the Commission to 
promptly react to possible specific issues that may arise in the interpretation and application 
of the comprehensive legal system composed by Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, Regulation 
(EU) No 664/2014, Regulation (EU) No 665/2014 and Regulation (EU) No 668/2014.        

5.  

CONCLUSION 

The  Commission  has  exercised  its  delegated  powers  correctly  and  invites  the  European 
Parliament and the Council to take note of this Report. 

5