site.btaHigh-level Forum Puts Issue of Double Standards on Foodstuffs on EU Agenda

Sofia, April 30 (BTA) - The Minister for the Bulgarian EU Council Presidency, Liliyana Pavlova, Monday opened a high-level forum entitled "Time to Table the EU Double Standards on Foodstuffs". She stressed that this is a key problem as evidenced by the latest study of 53 samples taken in four EU countries.

The study showed that 42 per cent of products sold by multinational companies are much more expensive in Bulgaria than in Western Europe. Opinion polls in Bulgaria show people set a high priority on the elimination of dual standards in food quality and of the gap in pricing. Pavlova said: "I suggest that we join our efforts today to resolve those problems."

Pavlova cited baby milk formulas as a glaring example because samples taken in Bulgaria showed a lower calcium, potassium and phosphorus content and a higher vegetable fat content.

The forum is attended by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, European Commissioners, including Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Commissioner Vera Jourova, ministers of the economy, agriculture and health care of the EU Member States, and representatives of the European Parliament.

The participants discussed the possibility of solving the double standards problem by adopting new EU legislation or by making changes to the existing EU directives that will prohibit the distribution of food under the same brand with different ingredients. The forum also tabled the issue of creating a single European body tasked with monitoring the existence of a double food standard.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said EU unity meant a single standard, adding that the EU dual food standard was "very insulting". "I have never thought that major highly reputed companies would take the liberty to do such things. It is unthinkable that Bulgarian babies should be fed more palm oil," he said.

Borissov also said: "The nation is becoming more ill as tonnes of palm oil are consumed. The incidence of heart disease is rising. Ten years ago Bulgaria spent one billion leva on health care, now spending has reached nearly five billion leva a year."

He stated that Bulgaria had compromised on other matters but would not do so on food quality. He has asked the ministers of health care and agriculture to talk with the store chains and importers.

Borissov hopes the issue will make fast progress, to which end he will talk with European Council President Donald Tusk on Monday. He expressed a hope that all participants in the high-level forum would sign the final document because this would be "an act of justice". 

Bulgarian Ombudsman Maya Manolova, on whose initiative the forum is taking place, said that without revisions to the EU unfair practices directive, there won't be any results.  "I insist on a single European body to oversee and fight food fraud," said Manolova, suggesting that the new authority may be seated in Bulgaria.

Commissioner Vera Jourova told a news conference it was possible to solve the problem of dual standards in food quality very soon.

The European Commission's package, New Deal for Consumers, was developed after thorough analysis of consumer protection, said Jourova. Consumer protection is based on the fact that consumers are the weaker side of the commercial relationship. Under the New Deal, the Commission suggests better redress opportunities, including the first EU collective redress in cases when tens or hundreds of thousands or even millions of consumers are affected by an unfair commercial practice. A more precise definition of prohibited dual standards is introduced for products sold under the same brand with different qualities and ingredients.

Jourova said: "We are introducing harmonisation of penalties which should be imposed in cases of cross-border infringements." Penalties are higher in some EU countries and lower in others, and the harmonisation will prevent traders from selecting countries for non-compliance based on the size of the penalties.
 

Jourova also said: "We are addressing the needs of consumers in the digital era, especially in relation to platforms when we want them to inform consumers who they buy the goods from," so they know the address to send a complaint if something is wrong.
 
Jourova said food quality must be the same throughout the Single Market and the Commission has already published the legal opinion that dual quality standards constitute unfair practice. The methodology for testing of food products was completed last week and will be delivered to all the Member States and the bodies responsible for consumer protection, so that testing can start immediately, looking for the same brands with different quality and composition.

Talking about testing at the forum, Commissioner Jourova said special pan-European food tests would be conducted to categorize all dual-standard-related problems. She urged all countries to do the tests, whose findings will be presented at the year's end. At the next stage, testing will be done on detergents.  

The consumer protection bodies can engage in dialogue with producers, asking them to justify the different quality, said Jourova. The Commission does not rule out that producers may have objective reasons for it. However, without an adequate explanation, the authorities should start the procedure against producers because the Commission is of the legal opinion that this is unfair commercial practice. The results could be seen even this year.

Jourova also said that there were three brands which were reformulating their products and that some chains had ceased to stock certain products.

Jourova said the New Deal for Consumers package is very ambitious and the Commission counts very much on the Bulgarian EU Presidency to give it a strong impetus at the beginning of the legislation process because the package has to be adopted both by the Council and by the European Parliament.

EU Commissioner for  Digital Economy and Society Mariya Gabriel said that digital technologies can help the agricultural sector to work more precisely. Some 40 million euro have been invested to this end.  Thirty million euro have been earmarked for a project, called Internet of Food and Farm 2020 which tracks foods from the farm to the table.

At a time of hyperconnectivity the digitization of the agricultural sector is extremely important and double food
standards have no place in Europe whose founding principle is unity, said Gabriel.

Economy Minister Emil Karanikolov said that consumer protection policies are a priority for the Bulgarian EU Presidency. He said that if adopted the measures proposed by the EU will increase consumer interest in the multifunctional internal market which will be beneficial for compliant businesses and consumers.

Meanwhile, socialist leader Kornelia Ninova said in a statement that the new EU rules for the quality of foodstuffs should apply to all goods. "Last year we raised the issue of the double food standards in the EU. Then we were accused of being anti-European because we wanted equal rights. We consider this a discriminatory issue as there can't be products in the same packaging and brands but with different ingredients."