Hardliners stall progress in cocoa butter dispute

Date: 02/04/1998

By Myles Neligan

HOPES of a rapid resolution to a long-running dispute over EU chocolate standards have been dashed by the hardline stance of a group of member states led by the Netherlands.

The three Benelux countries, together with France and Spain, remain strongly opposed to a European Commission proposal to allow the sale throughout the EU of chocolate containing up to 5% vegetable fats other than cocoa butter, provided this is clearly labelled.

The issue was dropped from the agenda of this week's meeting of EU foreign ministers after preliminary discussions gave little hope of compromise. The five countries command more than enough votes between them to block approval of the Commission's proposal.

"As far as we are concerned, there is nothing to discuss. Our position is well-known. We will not accept a product which contains any vegetable fats other than cocoa butter as chocolate," said a Dutch official.

The Netherlands and their allies insist that chocolate containing non-cocoa butter vegetable fats must be labelled as 'household milk chocolate' before it can be sold in their countries. This goes beyond the Commission proposal, which merely says that the presence of non-cocoa butter vegetable fats must be clearly indicated.

The Hague's stance is dictated mainly by fears over the likely impact of the scheme on developing African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, which produce most of the world's cocoa.

The Ivory Coast has estimated that demand for cocoa beans would fall by 200,000 tonnes a year if the present proposal were accepted, thus depriving ACP countries of 480 million ecu in export earnings. Dutch officials confirm that they have already suggested the measure should be discussed by development ministers.

But the Netherlands' hardline opposition has angered Ireland and the UK, where consumers prefer chocolate with a high milk content. Both accept the Commission's proposed labelling requirement, but reject the designation household milk chocolate on the grounds that this implies their product is substandard.

"It's a question of different culinary traditions. Our product is in no way inferior," said an Irish official.

Discussions are due to continue at committee level between now and 18 May, when the issue has been tentatively placed on the agenda of a planned meeting of EU trade ministers.

But officials are far from hopeful that enough progress will have been made by then. "We have been saying that we would like to wrap this up during our presidency, but it's proving a little more difficult than anticipated," said a UK spokeswoman.