News

On 29/04/2019, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic announced that it would include in the upcoming amendment to the Food Act sanctions of up to CZK 50 million on food businesses which will supply dual quality food products to the Czech Republic, i.e. products for different EU countries of the same brand with comparable packaging, which differ in composition and therefore in quality. It is a reaction to the outcome of the Consumer Package Directive, which was endorsed by the European Parliament in mid-April 2019, and which does not directly prohibit the occurrence of dual quality products. If the EU Council approves the directive, Member States will have to incorporate it into national legislations within 2 years.

On 30/04/2019, the European Commission will register the PRO-NUTRISCORE Citizens' Initiative, which asks the Commission to introduce simplified food and nutritional values labelling through “Nutriscore” colour labelling. The Commission has assessed the initiative as legally admissible, and it will be registered on 08/05/2019. From this date, the organizers of the initiative will have a 12-month period for collecting signatures to support the initiative, with at least one million signatures from at least a quarter of the EU Member States needed. The Commission will then be able to submit a proposal for a legal act to address the issue in question.
More information is available here.

On 29/04/2019, the World Health Organization called on all countries to accelerate the implementation of action plans and to respect their commitments to combat bacterial strains that are resistant to most commonly used antibiotics, in order to counter the global health crisis. The organization warns of the potential fatal impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the coming years, and demands that the countries ensure access to affordable antimicrobials and vaccines. It also calls for increased investment in research into new technologies to combat drug-resistant bacteria and to gradually reduce the use of antimicrobials as growth promoters in agriculture.
More information is available here.

The largest Ukrainian poultry farm MHP has applied for a EUR 100 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to buy one of the poultry farms in Slovenia. 67 of the Bank's shareholders will vote on the loan on 22/05/2019, including representatives of Ukraine, Canada and the USA. European farmers disagree with the expansion of MHP by the EBRD loan, because the same company has abused the lack of definitions of chicken breasts in the EU-Ukraine agreement and has imported into the Union chicken breasts with bones, boned subsequently, avoiding the payment of customs duties on the EU's sensitive commodity.
More information is available here.

Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan hopes for an agreement on the CAP after 2020 by the end of this year. Commissioner Hogan urged the new members of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development to accept the report adopted in April 2019, even if the rapporteurs responsible for individual positions will not be re-elected in the forthcoming European Parliament elections (23-26/05/2019). The Commissioner further supported the EU Council in the adoption of the General Agreement by the end of June 2019. According to the Commissioner, this would allow the CAP agreement to be reached before the end of 2019. However, according to some unofficial information, the Council is unlikely to reach a general agreement by the end of the Romanian Presidency, i.e. by the end of June 2019.