The label on a foodstuff must not mislead the consumer by giving the impression that a particular ingredient is present when in fact it is not, the Court of Justice of the European Union recently affirmed. This could be the case even though there is a comprehensive and correct list of ingredients on the label.
EU law stipulates that labels on pre-packaged foodstuffs in circulation within the European Union must comply with certain requisites in order to ensure that consumers can make informed choices when purchasing a product. The information given on the label must not mislead the consumer as to the foodstuff’s characteristics or effects.
Furthermore, EU rules provide that the labelling on foodstuffs must include certain compulsory information such as the list of ingredients as well as their quantity. The information given must furthermore be easy to understand, visible, legible and indelible.
The facts of this case which came before the Court of Justice of the European Union were briefly as follows. A German company marketed a fruit tea with the name in German ‘Felix raspberry and vanilla adventure’. The packaging comprised images of raspberries and vanilla flowers and the indications ‘fruit tea with natural flavourings’ and ‘fruit tea with natural flavourings – raspberry-vanilla taste’.
The fruit tea did not, however, contain natural ingredients from either vanilla or raspberry or flavouring obtained from them. The list of ingredients, on one side of the packaging, included the words ‘natural flavouring with a taste of vanilla’ and ‘natural flavouring with a taste of raspberry’.
A German consumer-protection association complained that the items indicated on the packaging misled the consumer with regard to the tea’s contents since they led the consumer to believe that the tea contains vanilla and raspberry or at least natural vanilla flavouring and natural raspberry flavouring.
A consumer must have correct, neutral and objective information about a product
The association, therefore, requested the manufacturing company to desist from advertising the tea. The national court seized of the case filed a preliminary reference requesting the CJEU for guidance as to whether the labelling of a foodstuff may be considered as misleading in terms of EU law when it gives the impression that a particular ingredient is present, when in fact it is not, and reading the list of ingredients is the only way that the consumer can deduce this.
The Court of Justice affirmed that EU law provides that a consumer must have correct, neutral and objective information about a product and that the labelling on foodstuffs cannot be misleading. It maintained that, even though the list of ingredients on the product is correct and comprehensive and a consumer is assumed to read such a list before purchasing a product, this does not exclude the fact that a consumer can still be misled as to the product’s properties by other items mentioned on the labelling. The Court, therefore, concluded that the labelling of a foodstuff may still be considered as misleading and hence in breach of EU law when it gives the impression that a particular ingredient is present in such foodstuff when in fact it is not, even though such a fact can be ascertained from the list of ingredients on the label.
In establishing this, a national court must examine the various items on the label, in particular the words and depictions used as well as the location, size, colour, font, language, syntax and punctuation of the various elements on the packaging. It must then conclude whether an average consumer, who is reasonably well informed and observant, could be misled as to the presence of an ingredient in the foodstuff when in fact it is not.
The EU’s consumer acquis seeks to ensure that the health, safety and economic interests of Europe’s citizens are safeguarded at all times and that consumers make informed choices when purchasing a product.
The jurisprudence of the Court of Justice bolsters such an objective by adopting many a time a restrictive interpretation of those EU laws which protect the consumer in his dealings with traders.
mariosa@vellacardona.com
Mariosa Vella Cardona is a freelance legal consultant specialising in European law, competition law, consumer law and intellectual property law.