WRITTEN QUESTION E-2065/99 by Umberto Bossi (TDI) to the Commission. Proposal to amend the directive on honey intended for human consumption.
21. 11. 2000 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 330 E/5 In July 1998 the Commission approved a Vademecum on grant managementí applicable from 3. 1 January 1999. Chapter 4 deals with the Criteria for accepting applications and awarding grantsí. Among the award criteria that selection committees and authorising officers are enjoined to take into account is 4. 5. 8: Proposed operations which, directly or indirectly, conflict with the policies of the Union or may be linked with an unsuitable image must be rejected. For example, all grants for projects that may be contrary to the interests of public health (alcohol, tobacco, drugs), respect for human rights, peopleís security, freedom of expression, etc, are prohibited. At present, commitments of appropriations by authorising officers are subject to an ex-ante visa by financial control. Thus, applications for grants are vetted, successively, by the budget line manager, the selection committee, the authorising officers and financial control. To answer this question, the Commission has contacted the Honourable Member to obtain the 5. information referred to in paragraph 1 above. The new Financial Regulation could include a title covering the award of subsidies, which 4. and 6. would define the concept, in particular with respect to contracts, and the conditions of award. For the purposes of openness, the new title would lay down the rules for the award of subsidies (legal basis, programme, ex-ante publication and ex-post information, need for a written contract). In addition to checks on recipients of subsidies by the Court of Auditors, it will organise checks by the institution which granted the subsidy (the authorising department will be required to monitor the use made of it, make sure the recipient maintained the conditions of eligibility, assess whether the results are in conformity with the objectives, and carry out an overall assessment of results). These rules are intended to ensure proper and transparent use of Community funds in compliance with procedures. (2000/C 330 E/005) WRITTEN QUESTION E-2065/99 by Umberto Bossi (TDI) to the Commission (12 November 1999) Subject: Proposal to amend the directive on honey intended for human consumption For several years now, the Commission has been discussing new Community and extra-Community rules governing the marketing of honey, but has failed to make any meaningful progress on the matter despite the fact that the current legislation contains various shortcomings as regards the productís commercial description. The basic provisions of the latest proposal to amend the directive on honey are extremely unsatisfactory in that they do not promote quality, do not lay down minimum requirements to be met in order for a product to be given the name áhoneyí, do not protect consumers against possible adulteration, do not lay down stringent rules governing honey derived from genetically modified substances and do not promote Community honeys and typical local honeys. What is more, the proposal does not even consider honey to be a characteristically agricultural product. Given the above, would the Commission state: 1. whether, given the fact that honey clearly is of agricultural origin, it does not feel it appropriate to make the Directorate-General for Agriculture responsible for this sector; 2. whether it would not agree that honey should be regulated by means of a separate COM laying down clear rules governing its production; 3. whether it would not agree that minimum quality standards should be laid down and that only products which comply with those standards should be entitled to bear the name áhoneyí; C 330 E/6 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 21. 11. 2000 4. whether it would not agree that clear criteria should be laid down to enable specific quality indications to be used; 5. whether it would not agree that rules should be introduced to ensure that consumers are given clear information on the origin of honey, its packaging and best-before dates and the presence of any chemical contaminants or GMOs; 6. why Italian producers have not yet been granted the certificate of specific character requested for pure virgin honey (ámiele vergine integraleí)? Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (5 January 2000) Given the sectorís situation in the Community and the present state of knowledge of apiculture it would be inappropriate to create a new market organisation specifically for honey. At present competence for legislation on honey is shared between the Directorate-General for Agriculture, which is responsible for honey production in the same way as for other agricultural products (Council Regulation (EC) No 1221/97 laying down general rules for the application of measures to improve the production and marketing of honey (1)) and the Directorate-General for Enterprise, which is responsible for management of Council Directive 74/409/EEC on harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to honey (2), in particular the rules on composition, labelling and honey names. This Directive was included in the simplication programme covering a number of Directives on foodstuffs decided on by the Edinburgh European Council in 1992. In 1996 the Commission presented a proposal (3) for a Directive simplifying and replacing Directive 74/409/EEC. Not yet adopted by the Council, it sets a number of criteria that honey must meet if it is to like the abovementioned Directive, allows be marketed under that name. producers and information regional territorial topographical origin. Moreover names of honey having a specific character can also be protected under Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 on protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs or Council Regulation (EEC) No 2082/92 on certificates of specific character for agricultural products and foodstuffs (4). In addition the proposal, supplement product name floral plant the on by its to On labelling, in response to Parliamentís opinion given in May 1999 the Commission decided to amend its proposal in order to make it compulsory for the label to indicate the origin of honey if it comes from a non-Community country. The proposed Directive also makes applicable Council Directive 79/112/EEC (5) on labelling and presentation of foodstuffs, the provisions of which cover indication of minimum durability. Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 258/97 concerning novel foods and novel food ingredients (6) imposes specific additional labelling requirements designed to ensure that the final consumer is properly informed, in particular of the presence of food ingredients produced from genetically modified organisms. The application for a certificate of specific character for miele vergine integrale is at present under information was discussion between the Italian authorities and the Commission. The latest additional received in October 1999. (1) OJ L 173, 1. 7. 1997. Regulation amended by Regulation (EC) No 2070/98 (OJ L 265, 30. 9. 1998). (2) OJ L 221, 12. 8. 1974. Directive amended by the 1985 Act of Accession. (3) COM(95) 722 final. (4) OJ L 208, 24. 7. 1992. Regulation (EEC) No 2082/92 was amended by the 1994 Act of Accession. (5) OJ L 33, 8. 3. 1979. Directive last amended by Parliament and Council Directive 97/4/EC (OJ L 43, 14. 2. 1997). (6) OJ L 43, 14. 2. 1997