WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3201/97 by Cristiana MUSCARDINI to the Commission. Extra virgin olive oil
25. 5. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 158/57 › for the purposes of recording prices on the Communityís representative markets, the definition is either for male calves aged from 8 days to 3 weeks (Article 8 of Commission Regulation (EEC)No 610/77 of 18 March 1977 on the determination of prices of adult bovine animals on representative Community markets and the survey of prices of certain other cattle in the Community (4)) or lean cattle aged on average between 6 and 12 months, of male sex, of an average weight equal to or lower than 300 kg live weight (Article 9 of the same Regulation as above), or calves for slaughtering reared exclusively on milk or preparations containing milk and slaughtered at up to six months of age (Article 10 of the same Regulation). In view of the different purposes served, the Commission does not plan to draw up a single definition of 2. ácalvesí which could be used in all the above cases. (1) OJ L 148, 28. 6. 1968. (2) OJ L 340, 11. 12. 1991. (3) OJ L 132, 29. 5. 1993. (4) OJ L 77, 25. 3. 1977. (98/C 158/70) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3201/97 by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission (16 October 1997) Subject: Extra virgin olive oil The Italian national consumersí union has protested against the planned amendment of the international rules governing the marketing of olive oil, shortly to be incorporated into a Community regulation. 1. Is it true that, as a result of this amendment, any extra virgin oil imported into Italy from abroad may be called Italianí provided it is merely filtered in Italy and supplemented with a very small amount of national virgin oil? If so, does the Commission not consider that this is a case of álegalized fraudí since consumers will not 2. know what area the purchased virgin oil comes from? 3. Will the principle of controlled origin applied to other products, such as wine and cheese, no longer be applied to olive oil? 4. What action does the Commission intend to take to guarantee transparency and designation of origin for oil, and prevent murky and unacceptable practices from being legalized? (98/C 158/71) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3383/97 by Riccardo Garosci (UPE), Livio Filippi (PPE), Giacomo Santini (UPE), Danilo Poggiolini (PPE), Antonio Trizza (NI), Monica Baldi (UPE) and Luisa Todini (UPE) to the Commission (23 October 1997) Subject: Labelling of olive-oil and proposed IOOC amendment Will the Commission make representations to the governing bodies of the IOOC (International Olive Oil Council) regarding the proposal to amend the rules on the labelling of olive-oil? When it holds its next meeting in Turkey on 18 November 1997, the international organization is apparently planning to change the definition of ácountry of productioní for labelling purposes. In practice, under the new proposal, imported olive-oil, irrespective of its origin, could be called by the name of the importing country if it had merely been processed (for example filtered) there and a small percentage of oil produced in that country had been added to it. This provision would obviously run counter to the idea of safeguards for consumers and olive-oil producers in the EU designed to guarantee clear information and a high standard of quality