Introductory text

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 establishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO Regulation)^f1, and in particular point (b)(i) of Article 121 in conjunction with Article 4 thereof,

Whereas:

Commission Decision 88/566/EEC of 28 October 1988 listing the products referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1898/87^f2 has been substantially amended^f3. Since further amendments are to be made, it should be recast in the interests of clarity.

Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 establishes the principle that the descriptions milk and milk products may not be used for milk products other than those in described point II of Annex XII thereto. As an exception, this principle is not applicable to the description of products the exact nature of which is known because of traditional use and/or when the designations are clearly used to describe a characteristic quality of the product.

The Member States must notify to the Commission indicative lists of the products which they deem to meet, within their own territories, the criteria for the abovementioned exception. A list should be made of such products on the basis of the indicative lists notified by the Member States. That list should include the names of the relevant products according to their traditional use in the various languages of the Union, in order to render these names usable in all the Member States, provided they comply with the provisions of Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs^f4.

Additions to this list may be made in accordance with Article 121(b)(i) of Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007.

Following the accessions to the European Union of 2004 and 2007, some of the new Member States have submitted lists of products which they deem to meet, within their own territories, the criteria for the abovementioned exception. The list in Annex I to this Decision should therefore be completed by including the names of the products from the new Member States, in the relevant languages, which can benefit from the exception.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for the Common Organisation of Agricultural Markets,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: