Article 31 Mountain product

The term ‘mountain product’ is established as an optional quality term.

This term shall only be used to describe products intended for human consumption listed in Annex I to the Treaty in respect of which:

For the purposes of this Article, mountain areas within F1Great Britain are those delimited pursuant to F2Article 32(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). For F3Northern Ireland and third-country products, mountain areas include areas officially designated as mountain areas by the F4authorities in Northern Ireland or the relevant third country or that meet criteria equivalent to those set out in F5Article 32(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

In duly justified cases and in order to take into account natural constraints affecting agricultural production in mountain areas, the F6Secretary of State may make regulations laying down derogations from the conditions of use referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. In particular, the F7Secretary of State may make regulations laying down the conditions under which raw materials or feedstuffs are permitted to come from outside the mountain areas, the conditions under which the processing of products is permitted to take place outside of the mountain areas in a geographical area to be defined, and the definition of that geographical area.

In order to take into account natural constraints affecting agricultural production in mountain areas, the F8Secretary of State may make regulations concerning the establishment of the methods of production, and other criteria relevant for the application of the optional quality term established in paragraph 1 of this Article.