Consumer

Olive oil, EU follows Italy on optional indications

September 1, 2018

The EU is following Italy’s lead in establishing harmonized rules on optional claims on olive oil labels. Details to follow.

Virgin and extra virgin olive oil, marketing standards

EU Regulation 29/2012
– on marketing standards for olive oil – had already stipulated the obligation to indicate, on the labels of extra virgin and virgin oil, theorigin Of the raw material. Understood as ‘geographical area in which the olives were harvested and in which the mill in which the oil was extracted is located’.

The origin of the raw material – and thus, the area where the olives were harvested-has indeed an objective relevance in determining the quality, perceived and/or actual, of the final product. (1) Indeed, the Competition Authority since 1997 has stated that ”the territorial origin of the raw materials holds particular significance in the eyes of the consumer, given the renown that certain areas of the Italian territory can boast in the production of olive oil.‘ (2)

The

EU Regulation 2018/1096
, effective as of 3.8.18, most recently amended the reg. EU 29/12. Updating the conditions for indicating certain voluntary information on the label, such as the collection campaign and the content of acidity. Through uniform criteria, to be applied with uniformity in the Internal Market.

Acidity and harvest campaign, what’s new in labeling

The reg. EU no. 2018/1096 introduces two essential new features on optional information in olive oil labeling. New to be applied from 6.2.19, i.e. from the 2018/2019 oil year.

1) Maximum acidity

Theacidity to be indicated on the label should not be that measured at the initial stage, at bottling, but that measured at the end of the minimum shelf life.

The indication of the maximum acidity, moreover, should be accompanied by the values for peroxide index, wax content and ultraviolet absorption. Values referred to product characteristics at the end of the minimum shelf life. (3)

Particular care
should be devoted to the construction of models capable of predicting changes in the above values throughout the
shelf-life
, taking into account variables related to how the product is stored.

The special storage conditions.

, please note, must, among other things, also be stated on the outer packaging, i.e., the logistical unit (cardboard and/or shrink-wrap plastic) that contains the individual sales units.

2) Collection campaign

The olive harvesting season, in accordance with reg. EU 2018/1096, must be indicated on the label by referring, alternatively, to:

– marketing campaign. That is, from July 1 of the year of collection to June 30 of the following year, (4)

– month and year of harvest, considering the month the oil is extracted from the olives.

Member States may require the harvest year to be indicated on the labels of only those oils produced on their territories from olives harvested there and intended exclusively for the national market. (5)

The EU has therefore followed the Italian example., at least for once. In fact, the indication of the olive harvesting year on the label has been mandatory since 2016 in Italy. (6) And it will remain so, as long as the Central Administration provides ritual notification of its rule in Brussels.

Dario Dongo and Giulia Torre

Notes

(1) The T.A.R. Lazio has long held that, in assessing the deceptiveness of an olive oil label, it is necessary to ‘take into account the central relevance for the consumer of the indications of geographical character of the peculiar product‘ (Judgment 2077/1999). The Court of Turin, in turn, noted that ‘in the case of the product “olive oil” (…) the “geographical provenance” of the olives is of particular significance and value to the consumer‘” (judgment 36282/2004)

(2) AGCM Measure 4970/1997.

(3) See reg. EU 2018/1096, Art. 1.1.a

(4) See reg. EU 1308/13, Art. 6.1.c.iii

(5) See reg. EU 2018/1096, Art. 1.2

(6) See Act 7.7.16 no. 122, Article 1