The draft regulation lays down modalities for the provision of information on the country of origin or place of provenance of the primary ingredient as required by Article 26 (3) of Regulation (EU) N° 1169/2011. However, this regulation would not apply to GI’s (geographical indications) protected under regulations: 1151/2012, 1308/2013, 110/2008 and 251/2014.
If the country of origin of the primary ingredient is not the same as the given country of origin of the food, producers can use one of the following options:
- “EU," “non-EU” or "EU and non-EU"; or
- Region, or any other geographical area within a Member State or within a third country, which is well understood by normally informed average consumers; or
- Member State(s) or third country(ies); or
- The country of origin or place of provenance in accordance with specific Union provisions applicable for the primary ingredient(s) as such.
Or, by means of statment:
- "(name of the primary ingredient) do/does not originate from (the country of origin or the place of provenance of the food)" or any similar wording likely to have the same meaning for the consumer.
Information must be presented in the way that font size is not smaller than the minimum font size as required in regulation N°1169/2011. If the country of origin or place of provenance of a food is given by means of non-scriptural form the information provided must appear in the same field of vision as the indication of the country of origin or place of provenance of the food.
This regulation would go into effect April 1, 2019, but food that is already placed on the market or labeled before that day may be sold until stocks expire.