Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-15-Speech-3-369"
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"en.20060315.26.3-369"2
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".
Mr President, the rapporteur has received flowers from quite a number of honourable Members and, on behalf of the Commission, I should like to add a couple of flowers to the bouquet. Thank you again for the interesting exchange of views. Let me comment on some of the points raised during this debate.
Finally, I shall make a few points on the TSG report. The current regulation on traditional specialities guaranteed has no definition for the term ‘traditional’. We propose to introduce the obligation to prove usage for a time period of at least 25 years. We believe that this is a good compromise.
As a result, the Commission can in principle accept the following amendments in the report on geographical indications: Amendments 1, 10, 11, 15, 25, 29 and 31. Of the last-minute amendments tabled for this part-session, the Commission can in principle accept Amendments 41, 43, 49 and 54. In the report on traditional specialities, it can accept Amendments 6, 10, 13 and 16. The Commission cannot accept the other amendments to these reports.
As a general comment – Mr Graefe zu Baringdorf and Mr Castiglione touched upon this point – I should like to stress again that with these proposals the Commission wants to bring our legislation into conformity with the findings of the WTO panels. This includes numerous aspects of the procedure and elements of simplification, so the system can support the implementation of the WTO findings. That was a point mentioned by Mr Allister and, in my opinion, it addresses his concerns.
In response to Mr Mulder, I reiterate the intention of the Commission to further review the various policy issues not related to the WTO findings and the wider issue of the agricultural quality policy in the EC over the next year. I have learnt a lot this evening, including the point Mr Mulder made about Edam cheese. I should explain to Mr Mulder that Edam is a type of cheese that can be produced anywhere. It is a Codex standard. However, North Holland Edam is protected, and that is a Dutch quality product. So eat more Edam from North Holland!
Let me comment in more detail on the exchange of views and address some of the issues you have raised. Concerning the logos, the three logos established by Commission rules are already different from one another. I also want to make it clear that any advantage given to EC producers – and I believe the use of a Community symbol is such an advantage – will be equally open to third country producers. That answer is for Mr Castiglione and Mrs Herranz García. However, the Commission agrees that this needs to be further explored. This will be done within the framework of the wider policy review, which the Commission intends to conduct as soon as this proposal has been implemented.
Several amendments deal with the obligations of the Member States and the Commission, which Mr Podkański mentioned. The Commission has no intention of altering the current distribution of competence between the Member States and the Commission.
Amendments 23 and 24 ask for a time period for the Commission to scrutinise and publish applications. I agree that the Commission should carry out its duties within a reasonable period of time. Mrs Lulling and Mrs Salinas García touched upon that. I agree that we should take into account the definition of a reasonable period of time, which is not easy, given the complexity of applications. It is certainly not realistic to have all the applications scrutinised and published in six months; twelve months would be more acceptable.
Your amendments on controls reflect the aim of the Commission proposal, which is to ensure that there is a clear understanding that all over the EC there are authorities in charge of enforcing the Community rules on geographical indications and traditional specialities. There is also no doubt that these controls will be carried out within the framework of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law.
There are points that concern only the geographical indications report that I want to mention. These are the use of ingredients in processed products and the origin of raw materials. I confirm that your proposals concerning the use of protected names in relation to ingredients for processed products meet some of the Commission’s concerns. However, the general rules on labelling already cover cases of misleading information. Further restrictions on the use of registered names for processed products would mean a major policy change that deserves to be adequately and thoroughly assessed.
I took note of various amendments concerning the labelling of origin or other conditions applicable to raw materials. The Commission shares Mr Graefe zu Baringdorf’s objective that people should not be misled in this respect. However, we have to be very prudent. Any policy change in this field may affect rights already granted to users of certain designations."@en1
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