Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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160. To ask the Minister for Health his views on member states proceeding with mandatory origin labels for food products at national level; and his further views on the steps that should be taken at EU level regarding such actions. [2663/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council provides the legal framework for the labelling of food products. Under the Regulation, Member States are given the power to enact national legislation to provide for country of origin labelling of specific types or categories of foods. However, such national measures are only allowed, in accordance with Article 39(2), “where there is a proven link between certain qualities of the food and its origin or provenance”. Additionally, the Member State must notify such measures to the Commission and “shall provide evidence that the majority of consumers attach significant value to the provision of that information.” Under this notification procedure, Member States can only adopt the proposed measure if it has not received a negative opinion from the EU Commission.

A number of Member States, including France, Italy and Spain, have provided for national mandatory indications of origin for certain food products. The majority of these measures have been introduced on a trial basis and the Member States concerned have committed to report on the impact of these origin rules on the internal market. The European Commission has not as yet decided to set out its intentions on future policy concerning country of origin labelling. Ireland will contributes to any such discussions at EU level as appropriate.