Brussels, 14/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Friday the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Council regulation on the registration of the Greek "Feta" cheese as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).
Since 26 May 1999 the denomination of this cheese has not been protected at a European level following a European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision in March 1999 to partially annul the protection of "Feta" cheese on the basis that the information provided by the Commission was insufficient to enable to register it as a Greek product. This new proposal is expected to be passed by the Council is a product exclusively produced in areas in Greece and respecting strict product specifications. Producers in other Member States or not respecting these specifications will be given a maximum 5-year transitional period to change the name or to stop production. As well as Greece, other countries producing Feta include Denmark and Germany (France and the Unite Kingdom produce it to a much lesser extent).
This Commission proposal is based on an EU Scientific Committee decision, which went to the vote at the Regulation Committee on Geographical Indications and Designations of Origin on 9 April. As the Committee failed to achieve the necessary qualified majority for a favourable opinion, the Comitology procedure foresees that the Commission now transmits the proposal to the Council. According to the Comitology procedure, the Council has three months to take a decision on the proposal. At the Regulation Committee, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom voted against the proposal, considering the word "Feta" is a generic term. France, Austria and Ireland abstained. It is possible that the Council blocks the proposal by a simple majority or adopts it at qualified majority voting. If this doesn't happen, the Commission will be responsible for adopting the proposal.
The Commission recognised that Feta is currently produced in several Member States but considers that this does not mean the tern is generic. It has also stressed the independent nature of the Scientific Committee which adopted it by unanimity, deciding that Feta could not be considered as a generic term is heavily concentrated in Greece and that the original Greek product is the dominant one on the EU market. It also concluded that products bearing the same name in Member States other than Greece are primarily made from cows' milk and using different technology. To consumers the name "Feta" is also associated with a Greek origin implying that the name has not become generic on EU territory. "Marketing cheese as 'Feta' when it is not produced strictly according to its product specifications is misleading consumers. These specifications require that the cheese is both produced in the specified traditional way and within the clearly delineated original production region", explained Commissioner Fischler.