Europese Commissie vraagt Cyprus aan om EU-regelgeving voor vruchtensap volledig in te voeren (en)

The European Commission is asking Cyprus to notify all national implementing measures as required by a Commission Directive¹ on fruit juices and certain similar products intended for human consumption. The legislation aims to enhance free movement of fruit juices and certain similar products within the Union by adapting to technical progress and taking into account of developments in relevant international standards.

Failure by Cyprus to implement the updated directive might hamper consistency in the minimum quality for products labelled as fruit juices and fruit nectars in the EU market and mislead consumers in their purchases. The request takes the form of a "reasoned opinion" under EU infringement procedures. In the absence of notification of the transposition measures within two months, the Commission may decide to refer this Member State to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

According to the new Directive, Member States should have transposed the amendment to the EU fruits juices legislation into national law before 1 January 2011. Member States are required to inform the Commission once they have adopted the necessary implementation measures.

As the Commission was not notified of all necessary implementing measures by Cyprus, it issued a letter of formal notice against this Member State on 27 January 2011.

The Commission has since received notification that legislative works is still in progress in Cyprus, therefore, the Commission is now sending the concerned Member State a final warning, urging it to speed up the adoption of all the necessary national measures.

Background

The amending Directive aims to bring the Directive on fruit juices and certain similar products intended for human consumption into line with the international standards, in particular regarding quality factors and labelling requirements for fruit juices and similar products, set out in the Codex Standard for fruit juices and nectars and the Code of Practice of the European Fruit juice Association (AIJN). Moreover, the Directive establishes minimum Brix values (measurement of a soluble dry substance in a liquid) for a list of fruit juices from concentrate. Since these values facilitate the testing for minimum quality requirements, they should be taken into consideration as far as they correspond to the reference values used in the European Union.

Further information

Information on infringement proceedings:

http://ec.europa.eu/community_law/infringements/infringements_en.htm

For more information on EU infringement procedures, see MEMO/11/312.

Footnotes

1: Commission Directive 2009/106/EC of 14 August 2009, which amends Council Directive 2001/112/EC of 20 December 2001