Protest over plan to permit non-cocoa fats in chocolate

Date: 09/05/1996

By Michael Mann

STAGE one of the revision of the increasingly infamous chocolate directive may be over, but its problems have only just begun.

No sooner had the European Commission adopted its plan to allow chocolate manufacturers to use up to 5&percent; non-cocoa fats in their products than a howl of protest went up from a number of groups involved in the lucrative chocolate industry.

The proposal 09/05/has yet to be sent to the Parliament and Council, but even when it is, divisions look set to hold up final agreement for a very long time.

The first official forum for what will be a lengthy debate will be provided by the Parliament's consumer affairs committee when it draws up amendments to the plan.

With the proposal falling under single market legislation, it will require two readings by MEPs and ministers. “If they take as long as the Commission did, agreement looks a very long way off,” said a Commission official.

Member state officials stress that part of the problem is that nobody will be particularly anxious to press for agreement on the proposal.

“Who's going to push for agreement? The Council is divided straight down the middle, so it's not a dream dossier for most presidencies. Member states like to get results when they're chairing meetings,” said one.

What seems certain is that member state experts are unlikely to begin work on the proposal until MEPs have completed their first reading, which could take several months.

There would seem little point in reaching a position on a proposal which is unlikely to survive parliamentary consideration in its present form. “Member states aren't duty-bound to discuss Commission proposals anyway,” commented one official.

Another underlined what he felt to be the major weakness in the proposal - the fact that, while aiming to create a single market in chocolate products, the Commission's desire to respect the principle of subsidiarity has led it to suggest “allowing member states to do as they wish” on the issue of labelling chocolate bars and in deciding whether to allow up to 5&percent; non-cocoa butter in chocolate.

Lobbyists for cocoa-producing countries claim that the proposal only got through the Commission after a decision was delayed until those Commissioners who had problems with it had left the meeting for other engagements.

African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the Cocoa Producers Alliance are extremely concerned about the effect of the Commission's plan to allow all member states to permit non-cocoa butter in chocolate.

They fear that annual cocoa consumption could fall by as much as 200,000 tonnes and that the chocolate sector will interpret the labelling requirements in a minimalist way, misleading consumers as to what products contain.

All the proposal says at the moment is that 5&percent; non-cocoa fats are permitted in chocolate “provided that their labelling ... is supplemented by a clear, neutral and objective statement that those products are present in the finished product”.

Although professing mixed feelings, CAOBISCO (the EU association of the chocolate, biscuits and confectionery industries) expressed itself “exceedingly pleased that at long last something has come out”.

But according to its director Arnold van Hecke, the proposal's major weakness is that “if member states choose to interpret the labelling requirements in a strict manner”, exaggerated labelling might reflect badly on products containing non-cocoa fat.