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International Food Law and Policy pp 541–558Cite as

Consumer Protection Through Food Law in the European Union

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Abstract

In many countries lawyers would believe that food law is a component of consumer protection law. In the European Union, consumer protection law was not a priority at its establishment under the Treaty of Rome (1957), indeed consumer policy at that time was in its infancy both in Europe and the U.S.A. In the following years the EU attempted to agree laws to protect consumers but such laws were always to enhance the functioning of the Internal Market. This situation was highlighted by means of the famous Cassis de Dijon ECJ Court case. The EU introduced some minimal consumer protection legislation some of which covered issues like food labelling or food hygiene. Things changed dramatically after the BSE crisis after which a major body of EU Food Law has been introduced. These food laws have been introduced as maximum harmonisation measures unlike consumer laws which continue to be caught-up in a major struggle with Member States over whether they should be a minimum or maximum harmonisation measure.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Cassis de Dijon (1979) ECR 469.

  2. 2.

    Communication on completion of the internal market (1985) Legislation on foodstuffs (COM(85)603).

  3. 3.

    Communication on the free movement of foodstuffs in the community (O.J. 1989 C271/3).

  4. 4.

    Green Paper (1997) The general principles of food law in the European Union. (COM(97)176) May 1997.

  5. 5.

    Article 12. Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

  6. 6.

    Article 12. Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

  7. 7.

    Article 38. European Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

  8. 8.

    Article 1, Unfair commercial practices directive 2005/29 (O.J. L149 pp. 22–69).

  9. 9.

    Recital 18—Unfair Commercial Practices Directive 2005/29 [O.J. L149 pp. 22–69].

  10. 10.

    Article 3(1)—EP & Council Regulation 1169/2011 on Food Information [O.J. L304 pp. 18–63].

  11. 11.

    White Paper on Food Safety (COM(1999)719).

  12. 12.

    Article 34. Consolidated version of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union.

  13. 13.

    Article 36. Consolidated version of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union.

  14. 14.

    Geddo (1973).

  15. 15.

    Procurer du Roi v. Dassonville (1974), ECR 837.

  16. 16.

    Id.

  17. 17.

    EP & Council regulation 178/2002 (O.J. 2002 L31 p. 1).

  18. 18.

    JFK Special Message to the Congress on Protecting the Consumer Interest. March 15, 1962.

  19. 19.

    [Article 288 EC Treaty].

  20. 20.

    White Paper on Food Safety (COM (1999) 719).

  21. 21.

    Green Paper on the Revision of the Consumer Acquis in 2007.

  22. 22.

    Where the current minimum harmonization standard had been exceeded, a maximum approach would have led to an undesirably lower standard.

References

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  • Article 3(1), EP & Council regulation 1169/2011 on food information (O.J. L304 pp. 18–63)

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  • Article 12. Consolidated version of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union

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  • Article 26, 114, & 294 Consolidated version of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union

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  • Article 34. Consolidated version of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union

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  • Article 36. Consolidated version of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union

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  • Article 38. European charter of fundamental rights of the European Union

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  • Article 114(3). Consolidated version of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union

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  • Article 288. Consolidated version of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union

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  • Cassis de Dijon (1979) ECR 469

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  • Communication on completion of the internal market (1985) Legislation on foodstuffs (COM(85)603)

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  • Communication on the free movement of foodstuffs in the community (O.J. 1989 C271/3)

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  • Directive http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sfp/addit_flavor/flav13_en.pdf

  • EP & Council regulation 178/2002 (O.J. 2002 L31 p. 1)

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  • EP & Council regulation 1924/2006 on Nutrition & Health Claims (O.J. L12 pp. 3–18)

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  • EU consumer rights directive proposal COM (2008)614. Consumer rights directive 2011/83 (O.J. L304 pp. 64–88)

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  • Geddo (1973) ECR 865

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  • Green Paper (1997) The general principles of food law in the European Union. (COM (97) 176) May 1997

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  • JFK (1962) Special message to the congress on protecting the consumer interest. 15 March 1962

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  • Procurer du Roi v. Dassonville (1974) ECR 837

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  • White Paper on Food Safety (COM (1999) 719)

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Food & Consumer Lawyer, Dublin, Ireland

    Raymond O’Rourke

Authors
  1. Raymond O’Rourke
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Correspondence to Raymond O’Rourke .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Food Law International, LLP, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Gabriela Steier

  2. Food Law International, LLP, Washington, DC, USA

    Kiran K. Patel

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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O’Rourke, R. (2016). Consumer Protection Through Food Law in the European Union. In: Steier, G., Patel, K. (eds) International Food Law and Policy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07542-6_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07542-6_23

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-07541-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-07542-6

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