At the ‘Agriculture’ Council on Tuesday 26 May, Austria, France and Italy, supported by several other countries, called for a swift legislative response from the European Commission on the origin labelling of agricultural products.
The ministers of these countries advocated a revision of Regulation 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers in order to reinforce mandatory EU-wide country-of-origin labelling and to extend its scope “to as many food products as possible”.
Italy said it had already put in place an “effective” mandatory national system and called for it to be extended to European level in order to promote products and improve consumer information.
“The aim must be to extend mandatory country-of-origin labelling to a wider range of foodstuffs and distribution channels. This could concern, for example, certain foodstuffs of animal origin, milk and certain dairy products, as well as the primary ingredients of processed products”, the French delegation specified.
Denmark, by contrast, considered that a mandatory extension “would lead to administrative costs and higher prices without clear benefits”.
Poland said it favoured a pragmatic approach, considering that an ‘EU/non-EU’ indication would be sufficient and more effective. Luxembourg supported this position.
Christophe Hansen, European Commissioner for Agriculture, emphasised that in the February 2025 ‘Vision for Agriculture and Food’, the Commission had committed to extend origin labelling. This direction is now reflected in the post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) package, through the proposal to amend the regulation on the common market organisation (CMO), which is currently in negotiation between the European Parliament and the EU Council.
This text specifies that marketing standards may cover the place of farming and/or origin, and extends the scope to other sectors, including protein crops, beef, pig meat, sheep meat and goat meat.
“This gives us an appropriate legal basis to develop EU origin labelling requirements sector-by-sector, where there is a consumer interest and where measures are justified and proportionate”, Mr Hansen concluded.
Link to Austria’s note: https://aeur.eu/f/m1j (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)