Food Information Regulation
Moritz Hagenmeyer
Food Information Regulation Commentary on Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers
to Janet and Derek
Moritz Hagenmeyer Food Information Regulation Commentary on Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers
Moritz Hagenmeyer
Food Information Regulation Commentary on Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers
A catalogue record for this book is available from the German National Library, detailed bibliographical data can be found on the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. The publisher expressly disclaims all responsibility and liability with regard to the topicality, correctness, completeness or quality of the information provided.
ISBN: Print 978-3-869 65-206-1 E-Book 978-3-869 65-207-8 © 2012 Lexxion Publisher · Berlin www.lexxion.eu Cover: Tozman Satz & Grafik, Berlin Typeset: Michael Bellenbaum
Preface
Preface “And every day I will go shopping for you all. And every day we will eat like kings.“ (from “Fantastic Mr. Fox” by Roald Dahl) Please accept my compliments on having bought my new book. Perhaps you wonder whether this is a European commentary? Well, yes and no! The European Union remains a community of nations with different languages and diverse traditions, including legal practices. So any EU citizen will be a national of one Member State and speak at least one official language. However, there is no mere European as such, nor is there a uniform European language. Hence my book is necessarily rooted in German legal practice, being a commentary on a statute as they were conceived in this country in the late 19th century. Indeed, it was originally published in German, my mother tongue, in February 2012. Still, the subject matter of the publication is a modern European legal instrument, an EU-Regulation directly applicable in the 27 Member States of the Union. Since most of them have different languages and diverse legal practices, it would appear all but impossible to imagine a purely European commentary. So you may perhaps accept the following suggestion: this book is a traditional commentary on a piece of EU legislation in English language – and thus probably as European as it can be. As you can gather from the preface to the German edition, the commentary was written quickly and I remain grateful to the persons mentioned there. The translation has been performed essentially by me and all further flaws are thus additions of mine. Should you observe anything faulty or find questions unanswered, please let me know. Again I owe enormous gratitude to my trusty secretary Sabine Moritz, who not only typed the complete manuscript at top speed, but also assisted me with her own translations of footnotes and the register. For almost two months she was showered with a constant stream of my dictations but still remains as unperturbed, calm and friendly as before – that is more than admirable! Should you detect traces of elegance and style here and there in the book, they have been contributed exclusively by my dear friend Sally Gimson who, albeit of Scottish extraction, speaks wonderful English as her VII
Preface
mother tongue. She has kindly and swiftly reviewed the whole manuscript and greatly improved its legibility. Wherever the text appears clumsy and stilted though, the words are mine and I could not be persuaded to change them. And of course I have to say this to my wife, Heike Hagenmeyer, once more: thank you for your support and for suffering my continuous disruptions of our family life. Finally, I am obliged to my colleague Andreas Meisterernst for introducing me to the publisher, to Wolfgang Andreae for accepting the publication and to Cliff Wirajendi for handling the production. And now it is your book. Read it or refer to it at your liberty. May it help you to understand European food labelling law better and may it contribute to solving your queries! Hamburg, May 2012
VIII
Moritz Hagenmeyer
Preface to the German edition
Preface to the German edition maledictus qui pervertit iudicium (Dtn. 27,19) Thank you for having pulled out my new commentary. May I still trouble you with a little request? You should know that I had very little time to produce my work. The legislator needed 4 years to complete the Regulation. I had 4 months to write my comments. The manuscript went to the publisher exactly 4 days after the FIR entered into force. And your book shall be in the market only 4 months after publication of the Regulation. Thus, presumably more than 4 mistakes will have crept in. That is why I would like to ask you: Let me know what you find missing. It is especially practical examples I am interested in. For the 4 best entries I offer a 4 rewards – under the supervision of Heike Hagenmeyer and Tobias Teufer – until the production of the 2nd edition; the main prize will be a copy of the new edition. I owe particular gratitude to 4 persons for their help. They follow here in descending order of their contributions to the success of the commentary. You have to know in this context that this preface is the only part I have put down on paper myself. Everything else has been written by my secretary Sabine Moritz, whose indefatigable dedication, extreme speed, high reliability and precision cannot be praised enough; without her there would be no more to read here. My partner Dr. Tobias Teufer LL.M. (UCL) and my sparring partner Peter Loosen LL.M. (Edinburgh), who for systematic reasons have to count as a compound person, have examined the text professionally and supplied me with valuable proposals. “Slave labour” like research, compiling synopsis and bibliography as well as a check up of the footnotes has been performed by cand. iur. Friederike Juncker. And my wife, Dr. Heike Hagenmeyer, has contributed to the improvement of readability and comprehension in numerous places. Further help in variable portions has been provided by the following 4 persons whom I would also like to thank: Frank Kareth, Dr. Torben Küchler, Dr. Captain Oelrichs and Prof. Dr. Andreas Hahn. Finally, I a am grateful to 4 persons of the publisher, Behrs Verlag, for their kind care of the work and its author: Inken Hansen, Svenja Ricke, Dr. Kerstin Fleischer and Dr. Arno Langbehn. IX
Preface to the German edition
And now I do not want to delay you any longer. Jump into the food labelling adventure. At the latest if you have the feeling you were being flooded by provisions (even if they are not 4), get hold of my commentary as if it were a life buoy. May it help you! Hamburg, 18.12.2011
X
Moritz Hagenmeyer
Author
Author Prof. Dr. Moritz Hagenmeyer is qualified as a lawyer (Rechtsanwalt) in Germany and as a Barrister in England and Wales; he is a partner of the food law firm KROHN Rechtsanwälte in Hamburg, a lecturer at Hamburg and Hanover Universities, a certified specialist lawyer for unfair competition law, a member of the legal committee of the German Food Law and Food Science Association (BLL), the Germany Correspondent of the European Food and Feed Law Review (EffL) and a life member of CAMRA; he has been specialising in food and unfair competition law since 1994; furthermore he has written numerous publications and regularly gives presentations at home and abroad.
XI
Contents
Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
VII
Preface to the German edition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IX
Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
XI
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
XIII
List of abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XVII Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
XIX
Overview of the distribution of the Recitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XXIII Synopses concerning the predecessors of the provisions of the FIR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XXV Chapter I Article 1 Article 2 Annex I
General Provisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Subject matter and scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Specific Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter II Article 3 Article 4 Article 5
General Principles On Food Information . . . . . . . . . . . General objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Principles governing mandatory food information . . . . Consultation of the European Food Safety Authority . .
57 57 65 73
Chapter III General Food Information Requirements and Responsibilities of Food Business Operators . . . . . . . . Article 6 Basic requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Article 7 Fair information practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Article 8 Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
75 75 77 89
Chapter IV Section 1 Article 9 Article 10 Annex III
Mandatory Food Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Content and presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . List of mandatory particulars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Additional mandatory particulars for specific types or categories of foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Foods for which the labelling must include one or more additional particulars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
99 99 99 109 109 XIII
Contents
Article 11 Article 12 Article 13 Annex IV Article 14 Article 15 Article 16 Annex V Section 2 Article 17 Annex VI Part A Part B Part C Article 18 Annex VII Part A Part B Part C
Part D Part E Article 19 Article 20
XIV
Weights and measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Availability and placement of mandatory food information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Presentation of mandatory particulars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definition of X-Height. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Distance selling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Language requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Omission of certain mandatory particulars. . . . . . . . . . . Foods which are Exempted from the Requirement of the Mandatory Nutrition Declaration. . . . . . . . . . . . Detailed provisions on mandatory particulars . . . . . . . . Name of the food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Name of the food and specific accompanying particulars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mandatory particulars accompanying the name of the food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Specific requirements concerning the designation of ‘minced meat’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Specific requirements concerning the designation of sausage casings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . List of ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indication and designation of ingredients . . . . . . . . . . Specific provisions concerning the indication of ingredients by descending order of weight . . . . . . . . . . . Designation of certain ingredients by the name of a category rather than a specific name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Designation of certain ingredients by the name of their category followed by their specific name or e number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Designation of flavourings in the list of ingredients . . . Designation of compound ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Omission of the list of ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Omission of constituents of food from the list of ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
123 125 129 130 137 143 145 146 159 159 160 160 163 164 175 176 176 179
182 183 184 213 217
Food Information Regulation Commentary on Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers
to Janet and Derek
Moritz Hagenmeyer Food Information Regulation Commentary on Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers
Moritz Hagenmeyer
Food Information Regulation Commentary on Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers
A catalogue record for this book is available from the German National Library, detailed bibliographical data can be found on the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. The publisher expressly disclaims all responsibility and liability with regard to the topicality, correctness, completeness or quality of the information provided.
ISBN: Print 978-3-869 65-206-1 E-Book 978-3-869 65-207-8 © 2012 Lexxion Publisher · Berlin www.lexxion.eu Cover: Tozman Satz & Grafik, Berlin Typeset: Michael Bellenbaum
Preface
Preface “And every day I will go shopping for you all. And every day we will eat like kings.“ (from “Fantastic Mr. Fox” by Roald Dahl) Please accept my compliments on having bought my new book. Perhaps you wonder whether this is a European commentary? Well, yes and no! The European Union remains a community of nations with different languages and diverse traditions, including legal practices. So any EU citizen will be a national of one Member State and speak at least one official language. However, there is no mere European as such, nor is there a uniform European language. Hence my book is necessarily rooted in German legal practice, being a commentary on a statute as they were conceived in this country in the late 19th century. Indeed, it was originally published in German, my mother tongue, in February 2012. Still, the subject matter of the publication is a modern European legal instrument, an EU-Regulation directly applicable in the 27 Member States of the Union. Since most of them have different languages and diverse legal practices, it would appear all but impossible to imagine a purely European commentary. So you may perhaps accept the following suggestion: this book is a traditional commentary on a piece of EU legislation in English language – and thus probably as European as it can be. As you can gather from the preface to the German edition, the commentary was written quickly and I remain grateful to the persons mentioned there. The translation has been performed essentially by me and all further flaws are thus additions of mine. Should you observe anything faulty or find questions unanswered, please let me know. Again I owe enormous gratitude to my trusty secretary Sabine Moritz, who not only typed the complete manuscript at top speed, but also assisted me with her own translations of footnotes and the register. For almost two months she was showered with a constant stream of my dictations but still remains as unperturbed, calm and friendly as before – that is more than admirable! Should you detect traces of elegance and style here and there in the book, they have been contributed exclusively by my dear friend Sally Gimson who, albeit of Scottish extraction, speaks wonderful English as her VII
Preface
mother tongue. She has kindly and swiftly reviewed the whole manuscript and greatly improved its legibility. Wherever the text appears clumsy and stilted though, the words are mine and I could not be persuaded to change them. And of course I have to say this to my wife, Heike Hagenmeyer, once more: thank you for your support and for suffering my continuous disruptions of our family life. Finally, I am obliged to my colleague Andreas Meisterernst for introducing me to the publisher, to Wolfgang Andreae for accepting the publication and to Cliff Wirajendi for handling the production. And now it is your book. Read it or refer to it at your liberty. May it help you to understand European food labelling law better and may it contribute to solving your queries! Hamburg, May 2012
VIII
Moritz Hagenmeyer
Preface to the German edition
Preface to the German edition maledictus qui pervertit iudicium (Dtn. 27,19) Thank you for having pulled out my new commentary. May I still trouble you with a little request? You should know that I had very little time to produce my work. The legislator needed 4 years to complete the Regulation. I had 4 months to write my comments. The manuscript went to the publisher exactly 4 days after the FIR entered into force. And your book shall be in the market only 4 months after publication of the Regulation. Thus, presumably more than 4 mistakes will have crept in. That is why I would like to ask you: Let me know what you find missing. It is especially practical examples I am interested in. For the 4 best entries I offer a 4 rewards – under the supervision of Heike Hagenmeyer and Tobias Teufer – until the production of the 2nd edition; the main prize will be a copy of the new edition. I owe particular gratitude to 4 persons for their help. They follow here in descending order of their contributions to the success of the commentary. You have to know in this context that this preface is the only part I have put down on paper myself. Everything else has been written by my secretary Sabine Moritz, whose indefatigable dedication, extreme speed, high reliability and precision cannot be praised enough; without her there would be no more to read here. My partner Dr. Tobias Teufer LL.M. (UCL) and my sparring partner Peter Loosen LL.M. (Edinburgh), who for systematic reasons have to count as a compound person, have examined the text professionally and supplied me with valuable proposals. “Slave labour” like research, compiling synopsis and bibliography as well as a check up of the footnotes has been performed by cand. iur. Friederike Juncker. And my wife, Dr. Heike Hagenmeyer, has contributed to the improvement of readability and comprehension in numerous places. Further help in variable portions has been provided by the following 4 persons whom I would also like to thank: Frank Kareth, Dr. Torben Küchler, Dr. Captain Oelrichs and Prof. Dr. Andreas Hahn. Finally, I a am grateful to 4 persons of the publisher, Behrs Verlag, for their kind care of the work and its author: Inken Hansen, Svenja Ricke, Dr. Kerstin Fleischer and Dr. Arno Langbehn. IX
Preface to the German edition
And now I do not want to delay you any longer. Jump into the food labelling adventure. At the latest if you have the feeling you were being flooded by provisions (even if they are not 4), get hold of my commentary as if it were a life buoy. May it help you! Hamburg, 18.12.2011
X
Moritz Hagenmeyer
Author
Author Prof. Dr. Moritz Hagenmeyer is qualified as a lawyer (Rechtsanwalt) in Germany and as a Barrister in England and Wales; he is a partner of the food law firm KROHN Rechtsanwälte in Hamburg, a lecturer at Hamburg and Hanover Universities, a certified specialist lawyer for unfair competition law, a member of the legal committee of the German Food Law and Food Science Association (BLL), the Germany Correspondent of the European Food and Feed Law Review (EffL) and a life member of CAMRA; he has been specialising in food and unfair competition law since 1994; furthermore he has written numerous publications and regularly gives presentations at home and abroad.
XI
Contents
Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
VII
Preface to the German edition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IX
Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
XI
Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
XIII
List of abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XVII Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
XIX
Overview of the distribution of the Recitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XXIII Synopses concerning the predecessors of the provisions of the FIR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XXV Chapter I Article 1 Article 2 Annex I
General Provisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Subject matter and scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Specific Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter II Article 3 Article 4 Article 5
General Principles On Food Information . . . . . . . . . . . General objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Principles governing mandatory food information . . . . Consultation of the European Food Safety Authority . .
57 57 65 73
Chapter III General Food Information Requirements and Responsibilities of Food Business Operators . . . . . . . . Article 6 Basic requirement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Article 7 Fair information practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Article 8 Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
75 75 77 89
Chapter IV Section 1 Article 9 Article 10 Annex III
Mandatory Food Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Content and presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . List of mandatory particulars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Additional mandatory particulars for specific types or categories of foods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Foods for which the labelling must include one or more additional particulars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
99 99 99 109 109 XIII
Contents
Article 11 Article 12 Article 13 Annex IV Article 14 Article 15 Article 16 Annex V Section 2 Article 17 Annex VI Part A Part B Part C Article 18 Annex VII Part A Part B Part C
Part D Part E Article 19 Article 20
XIV
Weights and measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Availability and placement of mandatory food information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Presentation of mandatory particulars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definition of X-Height. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Distance selling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Language requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Omission of certain mandatory particulars. . . . . . . . . . . Foods which are Exempted from the Requirement of the Mandatory Nutrition Declaration. . . . . . . . . . . . Detailed provisions on mandatory particulars . . . . . . . . Name of the food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Name of the food and specific accompanying particulars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mandatory particulars accompanying the name of the food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Specific requirements concerning the designation of ‘minced meat’. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Specific requirements concerning the designation of sausage casings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . List of ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indication and designation of ingredients . . . . . . . . . . Specific provisions concerning the indication of ingredients by descending order of weight . . . . . . . . . . . Designation of certain ingredients by the name of a category rather than a specific name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Designation of certain ingredients by the name of their category followed by their specific name or e number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Designation of flavourings in the list of ingredients . . . Designation of compound ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Omission of the list of ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Omission of constituents of food from the list of ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
123 125 129 130 137 143 145 146 159 159 160 160 163 164 175 176 176 179
182 183 184 213 217
