Case C-438/23, Protéines France and Others: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 4 October 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État – France) – Protéines France and Others v Ministre de l’Économie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté industrielle et numérique (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 – Provision of food information to consumers – Article 2(2)(n) to (p) and Articles 7, 9 and 17 – Fair practices concerning the naming of foods – Legal names, customary names and descriptive names – Substitution of components or ingredients of a food – Article 38(1) – Matters specifically harmonised – National measures prohibiting the use of meat-related names to designate a product containing vegetable proteins)
Date: 2024-10-04
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: animal protein, consumer information, labelling, meat product, product designation, vegetable protein








C_202501203EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/1203


3.3.2025






Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 4 October 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État – France) – Protéines France and Others v Ministre de l’Économie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté industrielle et numérique


(Case C-438/23,
                (1)
Protéines France and Others)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 - Provision of food information to consumers - Article 2(2)(n) to (p) and Articles 7, 9 and 17 - Fair practices concerning the naming of foods - Legal names, customary names and descriptive names - Substitution of components or ingredients of a food - Article 38(1) - Matters specifically harmonised - National measures prohibiting the use of meat-related names to designate a product containing vegetable proteins)
(C/2025/1203)
Language of the case: French

Referring court

Conseil d’État

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicants: Protéines France, Union végétarienne européenne (EVU), Association végétarienne de France (AVF), Beyond Meat Inc.

Defendants: Ministre de l’Économie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté industrielle et numérique

Intervening parties: 77 Foods SAS, Les Nouveaux Fermiers SAS, Umiami SAS, NxtFood SAS, Nutrition et santé SAS, Olga SAS

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Articles 7 and 17 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004, and point 4 of Part A of Annex VI to Regulation No 1169/2011, read in conjunction with Article 2(2)(o) and (p) and Article 9(1)(a) thereof,
must be interpreted as meaning that they specifically harmonise, within the meaning of Article 38(1) of that regulation, the protection of consumers from the risk of being misled by the use of names, other than legal names, consisting of terms from the butchery, charcuterie and fish sectors to describe, market or promote foods containing vegetable proteins instead of proteins of animal origin, including in their entirety, and thereby preclude a Member State from adopting national measures regulating or prohibiting the use of such names.










2.


Article 38(1) of Regulation No 1169/2011
must be interpreted as meaning that the specific harmonisation referred to in point 1 of this operative part does not prevent a Member State from laying down administrative penalties for non-compliance with the requirements and prohibitions resulting from that regulation and from national measures that are in conformity with that regulation. However, that specific harmonisation precludes a Member State from adopting a national measure setting the proportions of vegetable proteins below which the use of names, other than legal names, consisting of terms from the butchery and charcuterie sectors to describe, market or promote foods containing vegetable proteins is still authorised.






(1)  
            OJ C 744, 20.11.2023.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/1203/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)