Notice for the OJ

 

Action brought on 2 August 2002 by Piero Gonnelli and the Associazione Italiana Frantoiani Oleari (AIFO) against the Commission of the European Communities

    (Case T-231/02)

    Language of the case: Italian

An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 2 August 2002 by Piero Gonnelli and the Associazione Italiana Frantoiani Oleari (AIFO), represented by Ugo Scuro, lawyer.

The applicants claim that the Court should:

(annul in its entirety Commission Regulation (EC) No 1019/2002 of 13 June 2002 on marketing standards for olive oil, alternatively Articles 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 thereof.

Pleas in law and main arguments:

The applicants, being the President of AIFO (Associazione Italiana Frantoiani Oleari) and that association itself, seek annulment of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1019/2002 of 13 June 2002 on marketing standards for olive oil¹.

In support of their claims, they plead infringement of Article 33, the second subparagraph of Article 34(2) and Articles 153, 157 and 253 of the EC Treaty. They maintain in that regard that the contested regulation favours the maintenance of the dominant positions occupied by large undertakings in the sector concerned, thereby impeding the development of small and medium-sized undertakings, and that it does not provide consumers with guarantees as to the provenance and authenticity of the product. In particular, the regulation provides that the labelling is to bear information on the category of olive oil concerned, but that information is inadequate to guarantee the intrinsic quality of the product. More specifically, it provides that the designation of origin of virgin and extra virgin olive oils is to be purely optional, whereas, for consumers, the geographical origin of the raw materials is invariably a point of major importance. The regulation requires the product to be presented to the final consumer in packaging of a maximum capacity of five litres, to the prejudice of small operators such as pressers, who generally sell the product in bulk on the spot.

Moreover, the contested regulation does not provide adequate guarantees as to the provenance and authenticity of the product, thus impeding the marketing of types of oil which are of higher quality and are more susceptible to direct control by the consumer, such as that sold directly by the presser.

From another standpoint, and contrary to the objective of the common agricultural policy, the contested regulation discourages the distribution of high-quality olive oil such as that marketed directly by pressers, and acts as a disincentive to productivity, technical progress and rational agricultural development.

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¹ - OJ L 155 of 14.6.2002, p. 27.