Paweł Zalewski's question to the European Commission - Labelling ‘made in Israel’

Question for written answer E-012589/2011
to the Commission

Rule 117
Paweł Zalewski (EPP)

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The economic viability of the Israeli settlements at the West Bank relies largely on sales of agricultural produce and goods produced in settlement businesses.

In most cases the settlements export their goods with a ‘Made in Israel’ or ‘West Bank’ or ‘Jordan Valley’ label (and hence suggest their Palestinian origin). As the Commission explains, labelling indicating the place of origin is voluntary. However, Directive 2000/13/EC clearly states that ‘Producers and manufacturers are free to provide whatever additional information they wish, provided that it is accurate and does not mislead the consumer’. The mislabelled settlement products clearly violate this ruling.

The Commission might also be aware that the rule prohibiting settlement products from benefiting from preferential treatment has proven to be ineffective, as Israeli authorities do not provide accurate information on the place of production.

In view of the difficulty of tracing the product origin, and of the ineffectiveness of EU verification mechanisms established to check whether a product was produced in a settlement or within Israel’s recognised 1967 borders, I would like to ask what steps the Commission intends to undertake to more effectively verify Israeli products’ place of origin?

Request to the European Commission issued on 20/12/2011

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Answer given by Mr Šemeta on behalf of the Commission (29.02.2012)

The Honourable Member raises issues concerning both the specific determination of the origin of goods for customs purposes and food labelling in the wider sense.

As concerns the determination of origin for customs purposes, the Honourable Member will find in the replies to Written Questions E‑009906/2011 and E‑009907/2011(1) detailed information concerning the modalities and effectiveness of measures taken by EU Member States customs authorities in order to prevent settlement products from benefiting from preferential treatment upon importation.

The Commission services, in close cooperation with the customs authorities of the Member States, are currently assessing the possibility of publishing an amended version of the Notice to importers on imports from Israel and to make the list of settlements public in order to further support the implementation of the measures.

As concerns food labelling, Directive 2000/13/EC(2) does not provide for criteria which should be applied to determine the country of origin of foods. The evaluation of the misleading character of the food information, including the origin indication, is to be carried out on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all elements of the label. The responsible bodies for such assessment are the competent authorities of the Member States where the food is marketed.

The new EU Regulation on food information to consumers(3) clarifies and confirms that the country of origin shall be determined in accordance with Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 establishing the Community Customs Code(4), meaning that with regard to processed foods not wholly obtained in one single country it shall be the country of the last substantial transformation of the food.

(1) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/QP-WEB
(2) Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs, OJ L 109, 6.5.2000, p. 29.
(3) Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004, OJ L 304, 22.11.2011, p. 18.
(4) OJ L 302, 19.10.1992, p. 1.