Crónica de una muerte anunciada? The ECJ judgment Lactalis and what’s left of the «made in» question in the European Union

摘要

The EU Regulation 1169/2011 on food information to consumers provided many exceptions to the rule which states the general irrelevance of origin in food labelling and stated that Member States have the possibility to impose further mandatory information about origin/place of provenance for some categories of quality products.

On this ground, many Member States introduced in recent years national rules about origin, feeding the so-called “battle on transparency and made-in declarations”.

The European Court of Justice in the judgment in comment stated that:

– The general rule contained in Art. 26.2 of the Regulation, although laconic, is an absolute pre-emption of the matter.

– Art. 39, which allows Member States to add some further mandatory particulars to the list of the Regulation, is limited to products whose qualities depend on the geographical origin and only at the condition that consumers consider this information essential;

– The risk of deterioration of milk, due to the long-distance transport is not covered by Art. 39.

In this way, a window of opportunity seems definitely closed for those who support the “made-in battle”, considering that the ECJ has adopted an orthodox approach, coherent with the rules of free circulation of goods in the internal market.

This comment, starting from this point, highlights the consequences in the short term of this judgment, and envisages how in the future this fight could carry on.