(1)

In line with the objectives set out in the Commission Communication of 11 December 2019 on ‘The European Green Deal’, the Commission adopted the Commission Communication of 20 May 2020 entitled ‘A Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system’ (‘Farm to Fork Strategy’), where it announced measures for a healthier and more sustainable Union food system. By means of those measures, the Commission seeks, inter alia, to stimulate product reformulation in the case of foods high in sugars and to facilitate the shift to healthy and sustainable diets. Furthermore, in order to empower consumers to make informed, healthy and sustainable food choices, the Commission announced a possible extension of the mandatory origin or provenance indications to certain products, while fully taking into account impacts on the internal market.

(2)

Council Directive 2001/110/EC (3) lays down definitions, names, common rules on composition, and quality and labelling requirements for honey.

(3)

In the light of the close link between the quality of honey and its origin and the need to avoid consumers being misled with regard to the quality of the product, Directive 2001/110/EC lays down rules on the labelling of the origin for the purposes of indicating where the honey has been harvested. In particular, Article 2, point 4, of that Directive requires the country or countries of origin where the honey has been harvested to be indicated on the label and provides that, if honey originates in more than one Member State or third country, the mandatory indication of the countries of origin can be replaced by one of the following, as appropriate: ‘blend of EU honeys’, ‘blend of non EU honeys’, ‘blend of EU and non-EU honeys’. The different rules adopted on that basis by Member States might have misled consumers and might have hindered the functioning of the internal market.

(4)

Given the particular interest shown by consumers in the geographical origin of honey, in the light of the Farm to Fork Strategy’s objective of empowering consumers in making informed choices, including with regard to the origin of their food, and in the interest of preserving the efficient functioning of the internal market throughout the Union through harmonisation of the labelling rules, it is appropriate to revise the rules for honey origin labelling. This Directive should require, as a standard rule, that the country or countries of origin be indicated on the label in descending order together with the percentage of each origin, in the case of blends, with a tolerance of 5 % for each individual share within the blend, calculated on the basis of the operator’s traceability documentation.

(5)

However, in order to ensure a certain degree of flexibility, Member States should be able to provide that, in the case of honey blends with more than four different countries of origin, it is allowed to indicate in terms of percentage only the four largest shares, as long as they represent together more than 50 % of the total. Any remaining countries of origin should be indicated in descending order, as in the case where the standard rule is applied. Such flexibility does not interfere with the free movement of honey labelled in accordance with the standard rule, since the standard rule provides for more complete information to be given to consumers. It follows from the relationship between the standard rule and this flexibility that, in the case of more than four countries of origin, where the shares of the fifth or further countries of origin are identical to the fourth, it is not possible to indicate only the four largest shares and thus the standard rule should apply.

(6)

In the light of the reduced size of packs containing only a single portion of honey of 30 g or less and the resulting technical difficulties, it is appropriate to provide that, in the case of honey blends, instead of the full name of the countries of origin, a standardised and internationally known code can be used, namely the international standard ISO 3166 that defines internationally recognised codes of letters for the purpose of referring to countries. In particular, the use of the two-letter code alpha-2, which is recommended by the International Organization for Standardization as the general-purpose code, is appropriate to address the technical difficulties from the reduced size of the packs.

(7)

The Commission coordinated control plan for honey authenticity (2015-2017) and the Commission coordinated action ‘From the Hives’ (2021-2022) highlight that a high percentage of honey placed on the Union market is suspected of being adulterated. It is necessary to ensure that harmonised methods of analysis are available to detect the adulteration of honey produced and marketed in the Union. Implementing powers should therefore be conferred on the Commission as regards developing such uniform methods, in addition to the existing implementing powers referred to in Article 4(1) of Directive 2001/110/EC. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4). It is appropriate to set a specific deadline for the exercise of those powers.

(8)

Certain heat treatments can result in the degradation of honey constituents, in particular enzymes. Pollen, which is a key constituent of honey and provides a link to its botanical origin, can give indications as to the geographical origin of the honey. In order to ensure fair commercial practices and protect consumer interests, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) should be delegated to the Commission in respect of the criteria to determine the floral, vegetable or geographic origin of honey, and to ensure that honey that is placed on the market is compliant with Directive 2001/110/EC, in particular to avoid enzyme deactivation and to ensure that pollen is not significantly removed.

(9)

In order to protect the interests of consumers, to limit, as much as possible, fraud linked to adulterated products that do not correspond to the designation of ‘honey’, to enable the validation of information provided about the honey’s origin and quality, and to provide utmost transparency, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in respect of introducing traceability requirements that ensure the availability of and access to essential information concerning the origin of the honey, including the country of origin in the Union supply chain, from harvesting producer or importer to consumers. Harmonised traceability requirements for honeys produced in, and imported into, the Union are necessary to enable the competent authorities of Member States to trace the entire supply chain back at least to the first step within Union borders. Those rules should not add to the administrative burden on producers but should make it easier for consumers and the supervisory authorities to keep track of a honey’s entire journey from harvesting to bottling in the Union. Therefore, through the new honey traceability requirements, accurate information on the origin of a honey and its authenticity in its supply chain should be ensured. With a view to a traceability system, and in order to formulate the most appropriate requirements, inter alia, concerning analysis of available digital solutions or methods, including, where appropriate, a unique identifier code or similar techniques, the Commission should carry out a feasibility study.

(10)

When adopting those delegated acts, it is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (5). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(11)

In order to support the Commission with the best available technical expertise, a platform should be established. That platform should, inter alia, provide recommendations for a Union traceability system that ensures the availability of and access to essential information on the origin of the honey, including, where appropriate, the country of origin, the year of production and a unique producer identifier, in the Union supply chain, from the harvesting producer or importer to the consumer. It should also support the future establishment of a Union reference laboratory for honey to improve controls and detect adulteration in honey through harmonised methods and to systematically test honey using the latest testing methods to prove the authenticity and quality of honey.

(12)

Council Directive 2001/112/EC (6) lays down the essential requirements to be met regarding production, composition and labelling of fruit juices and certain similar products intended for human consumption in order to protect the interests of consumers and to enhance the free movement of those products.

(13)

In 2012, Directive 2001/112/EC was amended by Directive 2012/12/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) to reflect new rules on authorised ingredients, such as those pertaining to the addition of sugars, which were no longer authorised in fruit juices. In the light of that change of compositional requirements for fruit juices, the fruit juice industry was able to use, for one year only, a statement indicating that no fruit juices contain added sugars, in order to inform consumers and enable them to make an immediate and clear distinction between fruit juices and certain other similar products in terms of the addition of sugars in the products. That short time-span proved insufficient to inform consumers that, following the new rules on authorised ingredients, the addition of sugars is no longer authorised in fruit juices. In accordance with Part II, point 2, fifth indent, of Annex I to Directive 2001/112/EC, fruit nectars containing neither added sugars nor sweeteners can bear the nutrition claim ‘with no added sugars’ or any claim likely to have the same meaning for the consumer, accompanied by the indication ‘contains naturally occurring sugars’. As a result, for some consumers and health practitioners, it is still not clear that fruit juices, contrary to fruit nectars, cannot contain added sugars. This might have misled consumers as research has shown that, where a choice is to be made between several products with an identical or very similar nutrition composition, the products bearing a nutrition claim would be preferred.

(14)

Therefore, considering, in particular, that consumers are increasingly aware of health concerns linked to the consumption of sugars, it is appropriate to revise the rules on the use of statements on sugars for fruit juices to allow consumers to make informed choices. It is therefore appropriate to create a special rule for the voluntary use of a statement indicating that fruit juices contain only naturally occurring sugars. Such a statement is intended to refer to characteristics that result from the definition of fruit juices set out in Directive 2001/112/EC, and from the authorised ingredients for fruit juices identified therein. The introduction of such a statement presents truthful and accurate information to consumers in line with the objectives of informing them about the nutrition characteristics of products, of making it easier to distinguish between fruit juices on the one hand and fruit nectars on the other hand, and of allowing consumers to make informed choices.

(15)

As a result of technical progress, new processing techniques have been or are being developed to entirely or partially remove naturally occurring sugars in fruit juices and fruit juices from concentrate, in order to address the growing consumer demand for products with a lower sugar content. Such products can be marketed in the Union to the extent that they comply with all relevant legislation. However, those products are obtained by applying a treatment that is not one of the authorised treatments listed in Part II, point 3, of Annex I to Directive 2001/112/EC, and their total sugar content is lower than that of juice extracted from the fruit. As a result, they cannot bear the product name ‘fruit juice’, ‘concentrated fruit juice’ or ‘fruit juice from concentrate’.

(16)

Such products are becoming increasingly available on the Union market. In order to facilitate the placing on the internal market of those products and to allow for product reformulation and innovation, and without prejudice to applicable Union law, a new category of products should be created for fruit juices whose naturally occurring sugars have been reduced while maintaining the other essential physical, chemical, organoleptic and nutritional characteristics of an average type of juice from the fruit which it comes from. It should be possible for those products to bear the product name ‘reduced-sugar fruit juice’, ‘reduced-sugar fruit juice from concentrate’ or ‘concentrated reduced-sugar fruit juice’. In order to ensure consistency with Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8), the reduction of sugar content should be at least 30 % compared to an average type of fruit juice, fruit juice from concentrate and concentrated fruit juice which it comes from, respectively. It is therefore appropriate to include those new categories of products in Part I of Annex I to Directive 2001/112/EC as well as to lay down rules on the authorised ingredients for those products and on the authorised processes and substances in Part II of that Annex. As in the case of other types of fruit juices, the use of sweeteners or the addition of ingredients with sweetening properties should not be allowed for those new categories of products.

(17)

In accordance with Annex I to Directive 2001/112/EC, fruit nectars are allowed to contain added sugars, honey or both. In order to support the production and marketing of fruit, while taking into account the need to stimulate product reformulation to reduce the amount of sugars present in fruit nectars, the proportion of sugars or honey that may be added to fruit nectars that are naturally low in acidity and palatable should be lowered.

(18)

After the transposition of this Directive, it will be for the producers of the new categories of fruit juices, namely reduced-sugar fruit juice, concentrated reduced-sugar fruit juice, and reduced-sugar fruit juice from concentrate, to use the authorised processes in such a way that the final product meets the characteristics required by Directive 2001/112/EC. However, in order to attain the objectives of Directive 2001/112/EC, as amended by this Directive, in that respect, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in respect of setting rules regarding the physical, chemical, organoleptic and nutritional characteristics of the reduced-sugar products concerned as well as the use of the authorised processes to reduce the amount of sugars. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making. In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(19)

In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Directive, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission as regards methods of analysis to ensure compliance with the compositional characteristics of certain types of fruit juices marketed in the Union. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.

(20)

In the light of the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy’s objective of supporting consumers in making informed choices, and in view of consumers’ high interest in labelling that indicates the origin of food, the Commission should, at the latest 36 months after the entry into force of this Directive, present a report to the European Parliament and to the Council, providing an assessment of the feasibility of the different possibilities for labelling that indicates the country or countries of origin where the fruit or fruits used to manufacture fruit juice and fruit purée have been harvested, accompanied, where appropriate, by a legislative proposal.

(21)

Part II, point 3, of Annex I to Directive 2001/112/EC regulates the authorised treatments and substances for fruit juices and certain similar products. Protein from sunflower seeds is increasingly used for direct human consumption and has been demonstrated to be an efficient tool for clarification of fruit juices. In order to take that progress into account, proteins from sunflower seeds should be added to the list of authorised treatments and substances.

(22)

The juice extracted from coconuts is increasingly marketed and consumed in the Union. In accordance with Article 3, point 2, of Directive 2001/112/EC, the legal name of that product is ‘coconut juice’. However, the international standard reflected in the Codex General Standard for fruit juices and nectars (CXS 247-2005) indicates that the name ‘coconut water’ is a synonym of ‘coconut juice’, which is directly extracted from the coconut without expressing the coconut meat. It is therefore appropriate to add ‘coconut water’ as a particular designation in Annex III to that Directive. In order to ensure that the particular designation can be easily understood by all consumers in the Union, it is appropriate to provide for the possibility of using ‘coconut water’ in the official languages of the Union. In addition, as coconut juice from concentrate can be obtained by reconstituting concentrated coconut juice with potable water, it is appropriate to define a minimum Brix level for that product in Annex V to that Directive.

(23)

Council Directive 2001/113/EC (9) lays down the essential requirements for the production, composition and labelling of fruit jams, jellies and marmalades and sweetened chestnut purée intended for human consumption.

(24)

Article 2, point 4, of Directive 2001/113/EC provides for the mandatory indication of sugar content on the labelling, unless a nutrition claim for sugars is made on the labelling. That requirement went further than the rules laid down in Council Directive 90/496/EEC (10) which provided that the inclusion of nutrition information on prepacked foods was voluntary unless a nutrition claim was made and that, where the nutrition claim was made for sugars, it was to include the amount of sugars. Directive 90/496/EEC has been repealed and replaced by Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (11). Pursuant to that Regulation, the provision of nutrition information on packaging is now mandatory. Therefore, a specific provision on labelling concerning sugars is no longer necessary in Directive 2001/113/EC and it is appropriate to delete it.

(25)

In the light of the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy’s objective of supporting consumers in making informed choices and in view of consumers’ high interest in labelling that indicates the origin of food, the Commission should, at the latest 36 months after the entry into force of this Directive, present a report to the European Parliament and to the Council, providing an assessment of the feasibility of the different possibilities for labelling that indicates the country or countries of origin where the fruit or fruits used to manufacture fruit jams, jellies, citrus marmalades and sweetened chestnut purée have been harvested, accompanied, where appropriate, by a legislative proposal.

(26)

Part I of Annex I to Directive 2001/113/EC lays down the minimum quantity of fruit to be used in the manufacture of jam, jelly, extra jam or extra jelly. The use of the terms ‘extra jam’ and ‘extra jelly’ is reserved for products manufactured with a higher quantity of fruit compared to ‘jam’ and ‘jelly’, respectively. Part II of that Annex sets the minimum content of soluble dry matter, that is sugars whether naturally occurring in the fruit or added, for those products, and, in order to take into account existing national traditions in the making of fruit jams, jellies and marmalades and sweetened chestnut purée, it allows Member States to authorise a lower minimum content of soluble dry matter.

(27)

Where the quantity of fruit used to manufacture jams and jellies is increased, the amount of added sugar needed to reach the minimum content of soluble dry matter in those products is reduced. In order to stimulate the production of jams and jellies with an increased fruit content and thus support the fruit market while taking into account the need to reduce the amount of free sugars, the minimum quantity of fruit to be used in the manufacture of jams and jellies laid down in Annex I to Directive 2001/113/EC should be increased. Similarly, with a view to helping consumers make better informed, healthy food choices, it is appropriate to authorise the use of the reserved names defined in Part I of that Annex for products which have a soluble dry matter content of less than 60 % but meet the conditions applying to the nutrition claim ‘reduced sugars’ laid down in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006.

(28)

Annex I to Directive 2001/113/EC restricts the term ‘marmalade’ to a particular citrus fruit mixture. However, in a number of official languages of the Union, while the legal names laid down in that Annex have been used in trade to designate the products referred to therein, consumers commonly use the terms ‘marmalade’ and ‘jam’ interchangeably to refer to jams from fruits other than citrus fruits. In order to take into account that common use by consumers, where such use exists, and while taking into account the fact that the harmonised name remains ‘jam’, Member States should be able to authorise, on their territory, the use of the term ‘marmalade’ for the product name ‘jam’ in the case of jams from fruits other than citrus fruits. Consequently, in order to avoid consumer confusion, the term ‘citrus marmalade’, where the term ‘citrus’ could be exchanged for the name of the citrus fruit or fruits used, should be used across the Union for the product until now defined as ‘marmalade’ in order to distinguish the two product categories. It is therefore appropriate to revise Directive 2001/113/EC accordingly as regards the product names ‘marmalade’ and ‘citrus marmalade’.

(29)

However, in a Member State that does not avail itself of the option to refer to ‘jam’ as ‘marmalade’ because consumers do not use those terms interchangeably in that Member State, it should remain possible, in the case of citrus marmalade that is manufactured from three or more fruits, to authorise on that Member State’s territory the use of the indication ‘mixed fruit marmalade’ or ‘[x] fruits marmalade’, where x is the number of fruits used.

(30)

Annex II to Directive 2001/113/EC lists the additional ingredients that can be used in the manufacturing of products covered by that Directive. Citrus fruit juice can be used as an acidifying agent in jam, extra jam, jelly and extra jelly obtained from other types of fruit. Compared to juice that does not come from concentrate, fruit juice in its concentrated form is less voluminous and less heavy to transport, more stable, can be preserved for a longer time and requires less energy consumption to evaporate the water content when manufacturing the final jam or jelly product. Its use in jam, extra jam, jelly and extra jelly production is therefore more sustainable than fresh fruit juice. It is therefore appropriate to specify in that Annex that where specific juices are allowed for use in the different categories of jam, extra jam, jelly and extra jelly, they can be used in concentrated form.

(31)

The use of food additives is currently regulated by Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (12), which contains specific provisions regarding jam and extra jam. It is therefore appropriate to delete the fourth indent in Part B, point 1 of Annex III to Directive 2001/113/EC and to amend Annex II thereof accordingly.

(32)

Council Directive 2001/114/EC (13) lays down definitions and common rules governing the composition, manufacturing specifications and labelling of certain preserved milk.

(33)

Point 3 of Annex I to Directive 2001/114/EC lists the treatments authorised to partly or wholly dehydrate preserved milk. In order to respond to evolving consumers’ needs, a treatment to reduce the level of lactose in milk products should be authorised. Furthermore, the particular designation for the English term ‘evaporated milk’ in Annex II to that Directive should be made consistent with the international standards defined in the Codex Standard for evaporated milks (CXS 281-1971).

(34)

Directives 2001/110/EC, 2001/112/EC, 2001/113/EC and 2001/114/EC contain references to repealed acts. Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (14) was repealed and replaced by Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. Council Directive 89/107/EEC (15) and European Parliament and Council Directive 95/2/EC (16) were repealed and replaced by Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008. Council Directive 98/83/EC (17) was repealed and replaced by Directive (EU) 2020/2184 of the European Parliament and of the Council (18). Those references should therefore be replaced by references to the relevant provisions of Regulations (EU) No 1169/2011 and (EC) No 1333/2008 and Directive (EU) 2020/2184.

(35)

Directives 2001/110/EC, 2001/112/EC, 2001/113/EC and 2001/114/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

(36)

In order to allow Member States to adopt national laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive, a transposition period of 18 months should be established. In order to allow operators sufficient time to adjust to the new requirements, those national provisions transposing this Directive should only apply from 24 months after the date of entry into force of this Directive.

(37)

In order to take into account the interests of economic operators that place on the market or label their products in accordance with the requirements applicable before the application of the national provisions transposing this Directive, it is necessary to establish appropriate transitional measures. Therefore, this Directive should allow those products to be marketed for a limited time beyond the transposition period.

(38)

Since the objective of this Directive, namely to amend the Union rules on the composition and labelling of honey, fruit juices, fruit jams, jellies and marmalades, and certain partly or wholly dehydrated preserved milk, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, but can rather, by reason of the scale and effects of this Directive, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective,

(1)

Article 2 is amended as follows:

(2)

Articles 3 and 4 are replaced by the following:

(3)

the following Articles are inserted:

(4)

Annex I is amended as follows:

(1)

Article 3 is amended as follows:

(2)

Article 6 is replaced by the following:

(3)

Article 7 is amended as follows:

(4)

Article 7a is amended as follows:

(5)

the following Articles are inserted:

(*3)  Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission’s exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13).’;"

(6)

Annexes I and III are amended in accordance with Annex I to this Directive;

(7)

in Annex IV, Section I, the twenty-fourth row concerning ‘Quinces’ is replaced by the following: ‘Quinces (Cydonia oblonga L.) 50’;

(8)

in Annex V, the following row is inserted in between the rows concerning ‘Blackcurrant’ and ‘Grape’:

(1)

Article 2 is amended as follows:

(2)

Article 4 is replaced by the following:

(3)

the following Article is inserted:

(4)

Annex I is amended in accordance with Annex II to this Directive;

(5)

Annex II is amended as follows:

(6)

in Annex III, Part B, point 1, the fourth indent is deleted.

(1)

in Article 3, the introductory sentence is replaced by the following:

‘Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*6) shall apply to the products defined in Annex I to this Directive, subject to the following conditions:

(*6)  Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004 (OJ L 304, 22.11.2011, p. 18).’;"

(2)

Annex I is amended as follows:

(3)

in Annex II, point (a) is replaced by the following: