EU Commission presses Germany to respect protection of "Parmigiano Reggiano"

The European Commission has sent a final written warning to the German Government over failure to apply to the name "Parmigiano Reggiano" the Union's legislation on protected designations of origin (PDO). It calls on Germany to give full protection to this PDO within its territory. Use of the name, registered at Union level since 1996, is by law exclusively reserved to producers within a delimited geographical area in Italy who make the cheese in line with a binding specification. Cheeses not made in line with the "Parmigiano Reggiano" specification continue to be sold in German territory under the name "Parmesan", which in the eyes of the Commission is a translation through French of "Parmigiano Reggiano". The Commission opened the infringement procedure last October by sending Germany a letter of formal notice. A reply in December gave no commitment to conform with the Community PDO and PGI legislation where "Parmigiano Reggiano" was concerned. The Commission now calls on Germany to take whatever action is needed to conform with the warning within two months.