Food products
EU food legislation applies in parallel with the UCPD and it may be relevant also when dealing with ‘dual quality’ cases, since these appear to happen mainly in the food sector. Specifically, Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 on general food law aims at ensuring a high level of protection of human health and consumers’ interest in relation to food, while ensuring the effective functioning of the internal market. It is the foundation of the Union food law. It establishes, amongst others, common principles of (Union and national) food law as well as responsibilities on food and feed business operators at all stages of production, processing and distribution of food and feed. In that respect, it establishes the protection of consumers’ interests as a general principle of food law (183). Accordingly, food law must aim at the protection of the interests of consumers and must provide a basis for consumers to make informed choices in relation to the foods they consume. In particular, it must aim at the prevention of: (a) fraudulent or deceptive practices; (b) the adulteration of food; and (c) any other practices which may mislead the consumer. It also provides for a general obligation for the labelling, advertising and presentation of food or feed, including their shape, appearance or packaging, the packaging materials used, the manner in which they are arranged, the setting in which they are displaced and the information which is made available about them through whatever medium, imposed on food and feed business operators, not to mislead consumers (184). Only safe food and feed products may be placed on the Union market (185). Finally, food and feed business operators at all stages of production, processing and distribution within the businesses under their control are required to ensure that foods or feeds satisfy all requirements of food law, which are relevant for their activities and must verify that such requirements are met (186). Furthermore, Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers (the FIC Regulation) lays down general labelling rules and requirements, including mandatory provision of a complete list of ingredients, the quantity of certain ingredients or categories of ingredients, allergen information, a nutrition declaration, etc. This enables consumers to be fully informed of the composition of the food products and preventing misleading food information. Food information must be clear, accurate, and easy to understand for the consumer. For that purpose, the FIC Regulation lays down specific requirements for presentation of mandatory information, including minimum font size. EU food law puts in place a comprehensive legal framework aimed at ensuring not only a high level of protection of health of consumers and their social and economic interests, but also the free movement of safe food in the EU Single Market. The information requirements established by the FIC Regulation is ‘material’ information within the meaning of Article 7(5) of the UCPD. The omission of this information could be, after a case-by-case assessment, considered misleading to the extent that it is likely to affect the transactional decisions of the average consumer. Investigation of potentially misleading ‘dual quality’ enforcement practices by the national authorities in charge of the UCPD will normally be based on the information about the product’s composition provided on the packaging in accordance with EU food law requirements (187). However, ‘dual quality’ misleading practices could also occur in cases where the product differences are not apparent from the product label. In these situations, the authorities in charge of food law will check the compliance with the FIC Regulation and the applicable product-specific regulations setting composition standards. In those Member States where different authorities are responsible for enforcing the UCPD and the relevant food legislation, these authorities should co-operate closely to ensure that the findings of their respective investigations into the same trader and/or commercial practice are consistent.
Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.