2. 4.97 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 87/3 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 THE 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 fats ('), 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 products(?), 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 desginations 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 () OJ No L 316, 9. 12. 1994, p. 2. () OJ No L 182, 3. 7. 1987, p. 36. (2) of Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 relates to the tradi- tional character of a designation; whereas such traditional character may be considered proven where the designa- tion 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 Regula- tion (EEC) No 1898/87 (3} already contains exceptions with regard to the designation ‘butter’; whereas account should be taken of them; Whereas, in the Community list provided for in Regula- tion (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 () OJ No L 310, 16. 11. 1988, p. 32.