Latest news from Brussels

Logo delays organic law

The EU Council of Ministers has authorised a delay to a law that would make it compulsory to implement the current voluntary EU logo for organic products. Under a regulation agreed last year, the EU symbol was to be compulsory for pre-packaged organic foods from 1 January 2009, but this deadline will now be pushed back until July 2010. This is due to a failure by the EC to realise that the current voluntary logo could be confused with other existing symbols, such as EU logos for quality production. The existing ecolabel design can continue to be used whilst the EC considers alternative logos.

Blocking parallel packaging

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has decided that parallel pharmaceutical exporters within the EU can now be blocked from changing packaging for retail in different member states, should this potentially scupper sales by the original manufacturer. This statement was made by Eleanor Sharpston, ECJ Advocate-General, in a preliminary ruling in a case involving the Wellcome Foundation. It sought to prevent certain changes to packaging for medicines originally manufactured for the Greek market that a parallel exporter wanted to sell in Austria. Sharpston commented: “The 'awfulness' of the new packaging is to be measured solely against whether it [could] damage the reputation of the trade mark and its proprietor.”

Concern over tagging

EU ministers have discussed potential EU legislation on internet-linked tags that are integrated into products, providing information to consumers, retailers and manufacturers on their purchase and use. This technological development has raised concerns amongst privacy activists, who have called for laws insisting that consumers have the right to deactivate such tags. Such a law is being seriously considered in France, which is the current EU president, and hosted the ministerial meeting in Nice. EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding said the European Commission was drafting voluntary “opt-in” guidelines for such tags, enabling consumers to deactivate them.