On behalf of the national confederation ‘Coldiretti’ and the ‘Campagna Amica’ foundation, bearing 120 000 signatures, regarding the European regulation on labels indicating the origin of foodstuffs 

The petitioners are concerned about the content of the draft implementing regulation of Regulation 1169/2011 regarding food labelling. In their view, the regulation currently being drafted falls short of the expectations of consumers (who participated in the public consultation held on 1 February 2018), who would like more information when the country or place of origin indicated for a food differs from that of its primary ingredient (over 50%). In this case, the basic regulation requires the adoption of appropriate implementing acts (see Article 26, paragraphs 3 and 8). However, in the draft implementing regulation, the Commission appears not to have complied with the restrictions of the exemption granted by the European co-legislator; in particular, by exempting registered trademarks from the obligation of indicating the different origin of the main ingredient and, more generally, relying on the goodwill of business owners to fulfil this obligation. It is left up to their discretion to decide the level of detail they wish to provide on the origin of the primary ingredients. Paradoxically, for foods which benefit from a geographical designation known as a protected geographical indication (PGI), this information appears to be more incomplete than that for foods without a geographical indication. Moreover, once the implementing regulation enters into force (expected in April 2019), national rules on the origin of certain foods, including dairy products, honey, fruit and vegetables, fish and beef, would lapse, presenting a risk to consumers by reducing the information which currently allows them to identify the origin of these products. For these reasons, the petitioners request that the Commission remove the exemptions in question and that the European Parliament has a voice in the content of the implementing regulation.