Select Committee on European Communities Nineteenth Report

NINETEENTH REPORT

17 March 1998

  By the Select Committee appointed to consider Community proposals, whether in draft or otherwise, to obtain all necessary information about them, and to make reports on those which, in the opinion of the Committee, raise important questions of policy or principle, and on other questions to which the Committee considers that the special attention of the House should be drawn.

ORDERED TO REPORT

THE EC CHOCOLATE DIRECTIVE

8164/96 (COM(95) 722)

Simplification of the Vertical Directives on Food: Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive relating to cocoa and chocolate products intended for human consumption

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

  1.  In 1973, just after the United Kingdom joined the European Community, a Directive[1] was agreed which banned the sale as "milk chocolate" of the confectionery known as such in the United Kingdom since the beginning of this century. Only a derogation (temporary waiver) permits the sale in the United Kingdom of our traditional style of milk chocolate as "milk chocolate" rather than as "milk chocolate with a high milk content". The Directive also has the effect of restricting the free movement of chocolate using small quantities of non-cocoa-butter vegetable fats to and from Member States whose domestic legislation does not permit their use. In 1996 the Commission, as part of the completion of the single market, proposed the Directive which this report examines. Negotiations have been lengthy and the European Parliament, in late October 1997, amended the proposal out of all recognition. It was this development which caused us to examine what in short is known as the EC chocolate Directive.

VEGETABLE FATS

Terms of the current Directive (1973)

  2.  The 1973 Directive acknowledged that different Member States permitted or disallowed the use of non-cocoa fats by their chocolate industries. It did not seek to harmonise fully national legislation in this field. It was left to Member States' domestic legislation as to whether chocolate containing non-cocoa fats was allowed to be sold.

Terms of the Commission's proposal (1996)

  3.  Under the Commission's proposed Directive, irrespective of whether Member States authorise or continue to ban the use of non-cocoa fats in the manufacture of chocolate by their own industries, chocolate containing up to five per cent non-cocoa fats (the industry norm in the United Kingdom) would be allowed free circulation throughout the Community.

  4.  The presence of these non-cocoa fats would have to be indicated "by a clear, neutral and objective statement" in addition to the list of ingredients.

European Parliament's amendments

  5.  The European Parliament has proposed that the presence of non-cocoa fats should be indicated by a "conspicuous and clearly legible" statement in addition to the list of ingredients. The statement must, they say, appear on the front of the packet.

  6.  Implementation of the Directive should be delayed until a test is available for the presence of non-cocoa fats in the finished product.

  7.  The Commission would have to undertake a study to determine whether the Directive had any detrimental effect on cocoa-producing countries. If there was found to be a detrimental effect, the Directive would have to be amended to redress the problem.

MILK CHOCOLATE

Terms of the current Directive (1973)

  8.  The 1973 Directive treats milk chocolate (that favoured on the Continent which contains 25 per cent cocoa and 14 per cent milk) and "milk chocolate with a high milk content" (that favoured by the United Kingdom and Ireland which contains 20 per cent cocoa and 20 per cent milk) as being two different and distinct products[2]. Only the 25/14 version may be sold as "milk chocolate". The 20/20 version must be sold as "milk chocolate with a high milk content". In other languages this phrase is translated as "household milk chocolate": in French "chocolat de ménage au lait"; in German "haushaltsmilchschokolade; and in Italian "cioccolato commune al latte". A derogation permits the sale in the United Kingdom and Ireland of our traditional version of milk chocolate as "milk chocolate" so long as a declaration of the minimum percentage of milk solids present is made on the packaging. All types of chocolate covered by the Directive have to state their minimum cocoa solids content. In the United Kingdom these statements are usually made adjacent to the ingredients list.

Terms of the Commission's proposal (1996)

  9.  The Commission proposes no change to the current position. The United Kingdom and Ireland will have their derogations extended.

European Parliament's amendments

  10.  The European Parliament voted to end the United Kingdom and Ireland's derogation, so that the United Kingdom's traditional style of milk chocolate could no longer be sold as milk chocolate even within the United Kingdom, but would need to be sold as "milk chocolate with a high milk content".

  11.  As well as the United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Portugal and Sweden permit the use of non-cocoa fats. Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain do not. Only the United Kingdom and Ireland make milk chocolate with a high milk content.

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1   Council Directive 73/241/EEC of 24 July 1973 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to cocoa and chocolate products intended for human consumption. OJ L228 (16 August 1973) p 23. Back

2   The remaining 60 or 61 per cent of the chocolate is other ingredients, predominantly sugar. Back