Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

212. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on the European Parliament's decision to back a motion to introduce mandatory "made in" labelling for non-food products; if the Government will intensify efforts to ensure that Irish made products, including food products, are easily identifiable. [20328/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The decision referred to by the Deputy concerns a vote in the European Parliament on 15 April 2014, as part of the EU decision making process, on the report of the European Parliament’s rapporteur, on the EU Commission’s proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on consumer product safety. Included in the EU Commission’s proposal is an Article (Indication of the Origin) which provides for mandatory “made in” labelling for non-food products. The European Parliament and the EU Council, the co-legislators, have not yet addressed this jointly.

While I am aware of some of the arguments made in support of this issue such a proposal would impose additional disproportionate costs on business, especially SMEs, because manufacturers often have complex supply chains and use components from a variety of EU and international sources. Trying to calculate the source and value of many components in a final product to determine country of origin would be a further administrative burden on business that is difficult to justify in the present climate.

Furthermore, there is no evidence that mandatory “made in” labelling will enhance product safety or improve the functioning of the internal market, both of which are objectives of the Consumer Product Safety Regulation. Indeed, the article concerned would add significantly to the administrative burden of market surveillance authorities in the State without giving consumers the protection that they need from unsafe products. In addition there are likely to be associated Exchequer costs without clear offsetting benefits flowing to consumers.

It is relevant to note that an earlier EU Commission proposal in 2005 for mandatory country of origin labelling was eventually withdrawn by the Commission due to lack of sufficient support across member states. Food labelling is a matter for the Ministers for Health, and Agriculture, Food and the Marine.