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Parliamentary question - E-004659/2017Parliamentary question
E-004659/2017

Labelling of products not produced from milk

Question for written answer E-004659-17
to the Commission
Rule 130
Tomáš Zdechovský (PPE) , Patricija Šulin (PPE) , Monica Macovei (ECR)

Pure plant products are promoted and distributed in Germany under the names ‘tofu butter’, ‘plant cheese’, ‘veggie cheese’ or ‘cream’. The provisions of Article 78(2) and Annex VII part III of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council are interpreted as meaning that it prevents the use in marketing or advertising of expressions such as ‘milk’ and names which this regulation reserves exclusively for milk products on the labels of purely plant products, even where these names are supplemented with explanatory or descriptive information on the plant origin of a product, except for products listed in Annex I of Commission Decision 2010/791/EU listing the products referred to in the second subparagraph of point III(1) of Annex XII to Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007. Are these practices not in violation of competition rules? Is the Commission taking some form of action against this infringement? If not, why are butter spreads prohibited in the Czech Republic, when products not made from milk can be sold in Germany under names such as ‘tofu butter’ or ‘soy butter’?