The European Court of Justice ruled on Thursday 17 October that the 2014 Italian rules requiring a separation between the production areas of mozzarella di bufala campana and mozzarella not benefiting from this protected designation of origin (PDO) are valid if there is no other less restrictive way to safeguard the quality of the product concerned (Case C-569/18).
Three producers of mozzarella di bufala campana PDO are challenging the validity of the Italian decree of June 2014, which requires the production areas for PDO mozzarella to be separated within the same establishment from those producing unprotected mozzarella. They believe that this regulation makes it more difficult to produce buffalo mozzarella by imposing significant investments to upgrade production facilities. These rules would put the dairy producers concerned at a disadvantage compared to other producers of protected dairy products in Italy and in the other Member States, which are not subject to such strict rules.
When asked by the Italian courts about the validity of the Italian Decree in relation to Regulation 1151/2012 on the quality of agricultural products, the Court notes that the specification for mozzarella di bufala campana PDO stipulates that this cheese must be produced exclusively from fresh whole buffalo milk. In addition, each stage of the production process of the raw materials used and the cheese must be strictly controlled in order to ensure traceability throughout the production chain.
In view of these conditions, the EU judge therefore considers that the Italian legislation is in line with the objective of guaranteeing the quality and authenticity of the PDO product. A national measure, ruling that the facilities of undertakings which do not produce products eligible for a PDO must be clearly separated from those where products with a PDO are produced and stored, is justified in order to preserve the high reputation of a PDO product.
Thus, the Court states that the Italian legislation complies with Union law insofar as it constitutes "a necessary and proportionate means" of safeguarding the quality of the product concerned or ensuring control of the specifications of the PDO concerned.
However, it is for the national court to determine, in the light of the specific characteristics of the sector in question and the risk of counterfeiting, that there are no less restrictive measures to ensure the effectiveness of controls and compliance of products with the specification for mozzarella di bufala campana PDO.
See the judgment: http://bit.ly/2BkOjx0 (Original in French by Mathieu Bion)