Commission Regulation (EC) No 577/97 of 1 April 1997 laying down certain detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 laying down standards for spreadable fats and of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 on the protection of designations used in the marketing of milk and milk products
Modified by
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1278/97of 2 July 1997amending Regulation (EC) No 577/97 laying down certain detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 laying down standards for spreadable fats and of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 on the protection of designations used in the marketing of milk and milk products(Text with EEA relevance), 31997R1278, July 3, 1997
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2181/97of 3 November 1997amending Regulation (EC) No 577/97 laying down certain detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 laying down standards for spreadable fats and of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 on the protection of designations used in the marketing of milk and milk products, 31997R2181, November 4, 1997
Commission Regulation (EC) No 623/98of 19 March 1998amending Regulation (EC) No 577/97 laying down certain detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 laying down standards for spreadable fats and of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 on the protection of designation used in the marketing of milk and milk products, 31998R0623, March 20, 1998
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1298/98of 23 June 1998amending Regulation (EC) No 577/97 laying down certain detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 laying down standards for spreadable fats and of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 on the protection of designations used in the marketing of milk and milk products(Text with EEA relevance), 31998R1298, June 24, 1998
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2521/98of 24 November 1998amending Regulation (EC) No 577/97 laying down certain detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 laying down standards for spreadable fats and of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 on the protection of designations used in the marketing of milk and milk products, 31998R2521, November 25, 1998
Commission Regulation (EC) No 568/1999of 16 March 1999amending Regulation (EC) No 577/97 laying down certain detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 laying down standards for spreadable fats and of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 on the protection of designations used in the marketing of milk and milk products, 31999R0568, March 17, 1999
Commission Regulation (EC) No 445/2007of 23 April 2007laying down certain detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 laying down standards for spreadable fats and of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 on the protection of designations used in the marketing of milk and milk products(Codified version), 32007R0445, April 24, 2007
Commission Regulation (EC) No 577/97of 1 April 1997laying down certain detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 laying down standards for spreadable fats and of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 on the protection of designations used in the marketing of milk and milk productsTHE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 of 5 December 1994 laying down standards for spreadable fatsOJ No L 316, 9. 12. 1994, p. 2., and in particular Article 8 thereof,Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 of 2 July 1987 on the protection of designations used in the marketing of milk and milk productsOJ No L 182, 3. 7. 1987, p. 36., as last amended by the Act of Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, and in particular Article 4 (2) thereof,Whereas Article 2 (2) of Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 provides that the sales descriptions of the products referred to in Article 1 thereof must be those indicated in the Annex thereto; whereas there are exceptions to that rule; whereas the rule does not apply in particular to designations where the exact nature of the product is clear from traditional usage and/or where the designation is clearly used to describe a characteristic quality of the product; whereas certain detailed rules should be laid down for the application of that provision;Whereas Article 1 (3) of Regulation (EC) No 2991/94, which stipulates that that Regulation is to be applied without prejudice in particular to Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87, must be complied with; whereas the aim of the two Regulations is essentially the same, namely to avoid any confusion in the mind of the consumer as to the true nature to the products in question; whereas, therefore, in order to ensure the consistency of Community legislation, the detailed rules for applying Regulations (EC) No 2991/94 and (EEC) No 1898/87 regarding the use of the designation "butter" should be laid down in a single text;Whereas, in order to identify clearly the scope of the derogations referred to in Regulation (EC) No 2991/94, an exhaustive list of the designations concerned should be drawn up, together with a description of the products to which they refer;Whereas the first criterion of the derogation provided for in the first indent of the third subparagraph of Article 2 (2) of Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 relates to the traditional character of a designation; whereas such traditional character may be considered proven where the designation has been used for a period preceding the date of entry into force of this Regulation at least equal to the duration usually attributed to a human generation; whereas the derogation must be limited to those products for which the designation has actually been used so that such traditional character is not lost;Whereas the second criterion of the abovementioned derogation relates to the use of the designations in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 to describe a characteristic feature of the marketed products; whereas in this case the exception relates logically to products which are not listed as such in that Annex;Whereas that derogation should be restricted to products currently marketed; whereas the Member States have forwarded to the Commission the list of products which they consider to meet the criteria of that derogation within their territory;Whereas Commission Decision 88/566/EEC of 28 October 1988 listing the products referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 3 (1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87OJ No L 310, 16. 11. 1988, p. 32. already contains exceptions with regard to the designation "butter"; whereas account should be taken of them;Whereas, in the Community list provided for in Regulation (EC) No 2991/94, the designations of the products in question should be listed only in the Community language in which those designations may be used;Whereas the designations on the labelling of foodstuffs containing products as defined in the Annex to that Regulation or concentrated products as defined in the second indent of the third subparagraph of Article 2 (2) may refer to the corresponding designations given in that Annex, provided that Council Directive 79/112/EEC of 18 December 1978 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffsOJ No L 33, 8. 2. 1979, p. 1., as last amended by Directive 97/4/ECOJ No L 43, 14. 2. 1997, p. 21., is complied with; whereas there is therefore no need for the list of the abovementioned exceptions to mention such foodstuffs;Whereas, in view of present technical conditions, any obligation to indicate the exact fat content without any tolerance would involve considerable practical difficulties; whereas, therefore, certain special rules should be laid down in that regard;Whereas Regulations (EC) No 2991/94 and (EEC) No 1898/87 cover composite products of which an essential part is butter; whereas, therefore, those products should be dealt with consistently, whilst adhering to the approach employed in Article 2 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87; whereas the scope of the abovementioned Article 2 (3) should therefore be defined more clearly with regard to composite products of which an essential part is butter, by laying down an objective criterion for determining whether an essential part of the composite products is actually butter and whether the designation "butter" is therefore justified; whereas a minimum milk-fat content of 75 % in the final product seems to be the most appropriate criterion;Whereas provision should nevertheless be made for a special procedure allowing the Member States and the Commission to assess, on application by the parties concerned, whether for technical and/or organoleptic reasons, in the case of a product of which an essential part is butter, the minimum fat content of the final product must be lower than 75 % and to authorize the use of the designation "butter" in that case;Whereas the introduction of the rules for applying Article 2 (3) of Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87 to composite products of which an essential part is butter calls for certain transitional provisions to allow operators a certain period in which to adapt to the rules;Whereas the second subparagraph of Article 2 (2) of Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 provides that the sales descriptions listed in the Annex thereto are to be reserved for products which meet the criteria set out in that Annex; therefore, trade marks which employ those designations may continue to be used in the future solely for products which meet those criteria;Whereas actual market conditions will show whether or not it will be appropriate to lay down measures at a later date with regard to composite products of which the main ingredient is margarine or composite fats;Whereas the management committees concerned have not delivered an opinion within the time limit laid down by their chairmen,HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: