Irish and British chocolate, which is made with vegetable fat, must in future be clearly labelled as such, in order to be sold throughout the EU, if ministers accept an amendment voted by MEPs. MEPs want the vegetable fat content of chocolate to be clearly indicated on the front of the wrapper.
They also want to see a mechanism for measuring accurately the vegetable fat content of chocolate before the introduction of legislation. They called for the Commission to carry out a study of the impact of the directive on countries that are dependent on cocoa exports. If it be shown to have an adverse effect on these exports, the Commission will be obliged to amend the directive.
The issue prompted a lively debate among MEPs, generally (and unusually) dividing on national lines. While MEPs from the original six member states were anxious to defend the status quo, British and Irish speakers favoured breaking down the barriers to the single market. Liam Hyland (Leinster, UFE) spoke of the 3,000 jobs in chocolate production at stake in his constituency, and concluded that proper labelling of ingredients would allow free choice to the consumer.
The issue goes back to 1973 when Denmark, Ireland and Britain joined the EU. Prior to that all member states allowed only pure cocoa butter to be used in the manufacture of chocolate. The new entrants permitted the use of vegetable fats in the process. A compromise was therefore agreed whereby the three could maintain their traditional practices of chocolate manufacture, but could not export their products to member states which did not use the same process.
New member states - Sweden, Finland, Austria and Portugal - that also permit the use of vegetable fats in chocolate, had similar arrangements. However, such restrictions hamper the development of a single market and, since 1992, the Commission has been trying to come up with a solution to the problem.
The Commission has, therefore, proposed to allow the use of vegetable fats, other than cocoa butter, in small proportions, for example up to 5 per cent of the total ingredients used. This proposal has caused concern in African countries, such as the Ivory Coast and Ghana, which rely on exports of cocoa butter and fear a loss of markets to competing products.
The amended Commission proposal tabled under the co-decision procedure now goes to EU ministers before coming back to Parliament for a second reading.