(1)

Article 75(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts on marketing standards for the sectors or products referred therein, as well as derogations and exemptions from such standards in order to adapt to constantly changing market conditions, to evolving consumer demands, to developments in relevant international standards and to avoid creating obstacles to product innovation.

(2)

Article 89, point (a), of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts concerning the conditions under which imported products are considered to have an equivalent level of conformity to the Union marketing standards and conditions allowing derogation from Article 74 of that Regulation in order to take into account the specific characteristics of trade between the Union and certain third countries and the special character of certain agricultural products.

(3)

Article 76(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 provides that products of the fruit and vegetables sector which are intended to be sold fresh to the consumer may only be marketed in the Union if the country of origin is indicated, while Article 76(4) of that Regulation empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts derogating from that rule to take into account certain specific situations.

(4)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429 (2) supplements Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 by setting out the marketing standards for the fruit and vegetables sector, certain processed fruit and vegetable products and the bananas sector and, in particular, the rules on origin labelling which apply to those products. Article 3 of that Delegated Regulation provides for the compulsory indication of the country of origin also for certain dried fruits and ripened bananas.

(5)

In its judgments in Cases C-104/16 P and C-266/16 (3) the Court of Justice clarified that the territory of Western Sahara constitutes a non-self-governing territory distinct from that of the Kingdom of Morocco, and in its judgment of 4 October 2024 in Case C-399/22 (4) the Court of Justice further clarified that the territory of Western Sahara is to be regarded as a separate customs territory for the purposes of Article 60 of the Union Customs Code and, consequently, for the purposes of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 and of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 (5) (repealed and replaced by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429) and that, accordingly, the indication of the country of origin which must appear on fresh fruit and vegetables harvested in that territory may designate only Western Sahara as such origin.

(6)

In its judgment of 4 October 2024 in Joined Cases C-779/21 P and C-799/21 P (6), the Court of Justice confirmed the annulment of Council Decision (EU) 2019/217 (7) on the conclusion of the agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco. The Court of Justice maintained the effects of the annulled Council Decision for 12 months from the date of the ruling, i.e. until 4 October 2025.

(7)

In accordance with the judgment of 4 October 2024 in Joined Cases C779/21 P and C799/21 P and in order to ensure a clear distinction on the labelling of origin between products originating in the territory of Western Sahara that are subject to the control of Moroccan custom authorities and those originating in Morocco, as well as correct information to Union consumers, a new Agreement in the form of an Exchange of Letters, which has been signed by the Kingdom of Morocco and by the Union and applies provisionally from 4 October 2025 (8), establishes that fruit and vegetables originating in the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara that are subject to the control of Moroccan custom authorities, when imported into the Union, shall indicate, as place of origin, the name of the region where the product was harvested as indicated in the certificate of origin accompanying those products at the moment of import in the Union. Moreover, the new Agreement provides that the Union may grant, in relation to the products in question, to the competent Moroccan authorities the necessary authorisations to check and, consequently, to issue certificates of conformity with Union marketing standards, in accordance with Union legislation.

(8)

Decision 2/2025, of 3 October 2025 of the EU-Morocco Association Council set up by the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Kingdom of Morocco, of the other part, amending Protocol 4 of the Association Agreement concerning the definition of the concept of ‘originating products’ and methods of administrative cooperation (9), lays down provisions to ensure the applicability of Protocol 4 to products originating in Western Sahara. That Decision further specifies the name of the regions, ‘Dakhla Oued Ed-Dahab’ and ‘Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra’, as appropriate, to be indicated in the certificate of origin accompanying the products in question as well as in the origin declaration.

(9)

In order to implement the new Agreement and the EU-Morocco Association Council Decision of 3 October 2025, it is necessary to derogate from Article 76(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 and from Article 3 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429 to provide that for fruit and vegetables originating in the territory of Western Sahara that are subject to the control of Moroccan custom authorities and are imported and marketed in the Union, the indication of the country of origin is replaced by the indication of the region in which the product originates as indicated in the certificate of origin accompanying those products at the moment of import in the Union.

(10)

Article 9(3) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429 limits the approval of checks of conformity to marketing standards carried out by certain third countries to products originating in such third countries. In order to allow the Union to grant the Moroccan competent authorities the authorisation to carry out checks of conformity and, consequently, to certify compliance with Union marketing standards for fresh fruit and vegetables originating in the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara that are subject to the control of Moroccan custom authorities and are imported and marketed in the Union, it is appropriate to include in that Article the possibility for the Commission to approve checks of conformity to marketing standards conducted by Moroccan competent authorities in respect of those products.

(11)

To avoid any disruption to trade covered by the extension of preferences provided for by the new Agreement, this Regulation should enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

(12)

As the new Agreement is provisionally applicable as from 4 October 2025, this Regulation should apply retroactively from the same date.

(13)

However, fruit and vegetables originating in the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara and subject to the control of Moroccan custom authorities that were lawfully imported into the Union before the entry into force of this Regulation bearing the indication of Western Sahara as country of origin, should be allowed to continue to be marketed within the Union after that date, until stocks are exhausted and provided that such products continue to conform with all other requirements of the applicable Union marketing standards.

(14)

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429 should therefore be amended accordingly,

(1)

in Article 5, the following paragraph 6 is added:

(2)

in Article 9, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following: