Brussels, 16/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 13 February, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) pointed out that consumers had the right to know what they are consuming. This message was addressed to the European Commission, which is behind on its work on the subject and subsequently putting consumers at a disadvantage when it comes to them making informed choices.
BEUC is concerned that the Commission has still not published its report on opportunities for the future application of European rules in force on alcoholic drinks and consumer information regarding foodstuffs. On Friday, BEUC published the letter it had sent to Vytenis Andriukaitis, the European commissioner for health and food safety, on 10 February, in an effort to “ urge the European Commission to adopt with no further delays the report… the European Commission was expected to adopt by 13 December 2014”.
The Food information Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 includes a requirement to provide information to consumers about ingredients and nutritional content, through accurate, clear and transparent labelling. Alcoholic drinks (including alcopops) containing more than a 1.2% volume of alcohol are clearly exempt from the scope of application for the time being but the Commission is obliged to determine, over the three years following the entry into force of the regulation whether these kinds of drinks need to be covered in the scope of application (see EUROPE 10463).
The signatory of the letter to the Commission, BEUC Director-General, Monique Goyens, explained, “At present consumers can have complete information about what is in a bottle of milk or fruit juice, but not a bottle of whisky or beer. We consider this unacceptable. BEUC cannot see the reasons why alcoholic beverages should be treated differently from other beverages and exempted from the information requirements”.
She also pointed out on this occasion that the report was expected to contain the reasons justifying possible exemptions, by taking into account the need to ensure coherence with other relevant Union policies and for the Commission to propose a definition of alcopops. (Aminata Niang)