Brussels, 25/11/2010 (Agence Europe) - By completing the labelling of chocolate products which do not contain vegetable fats other than cocoa with the adjective “pure” or words “pure chocolate”, Italy is infringing EU law. Italian legislation introduces a double sales denomination for one and the same product likely to mislead consumers and this is detrimental to consumers' right to be correctly informed.
With its decision in Case C-47/09 of 25 November, the Court rules in favour of the Commission. Through action initiated against Italy for failure to fulfil an obligation introduced in 2005, the Commission challenged the Italian legislation which provides for the possibility of adding or including the words “pure chocolate” in sales denominations or to add this denomination elsewhere on the labelling of products not containing fats as a substitute for cocoa butter. The legislation, moreover, fixes administrative fines (of €3,000 to €8,000) for any infringement of this regulation. In so doing, the Commission states, Italy infringes Directive 2003/36/EC, in which provisions harmonise the sales denominations of cocoa products and chocolate products in order to guarantee that the same names are used throughout the internal market.
Taking up the Commission's argument, the Court points out that these denominations are both compulsory and reserved for products listed in European legislation. The denomination “pure chocolate” does not exist on that list and the directive does not allow it to be introduced into national legislation. Furthermore, the adjective “pure” is not neutral and may mislead consumers, leaving them to suppose that other chocolate products complying with the European norm (up to 5% of vegetable fat other than cocoa butter) are “not pure”. In this respect, the Court states, the addition elsewhere on the labelling of a neutral and objective indication to inform consumers that there are no vegetable fats other than cocoa butter in the product would have been enough to ensure that consumers were correctly informed. It would also have been in line with European legislation. (F.G./transl.jl)