Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 665/2014 of 11 March 2014 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to conditions of use of the optional quality term ‘mountain product’

• Celex Number: 32014R0665
• Coming into Force: 26 June 2014
• End of Effective Date: 31 December 9999
• ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2014/665/oj
• Published date: 19 June 2014
• Date: 11 March 2014
• Official Gazette Publication: Gazzetta ufficiale dell'Unione europea, L 179, 19 giugno 2014,Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 179, 19 de junio de 2014,Journal officiel de l'Union européenne, L 179, 19 juin 2014

19.6.2014 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 179/23

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COMMISSION DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) No 665/2014

of 11 March 2014

supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to conditions of use of the optional quality term ‘mountain product’

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs (1), and in particular Article 31(3) and (4) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 has established a scheme for optional quality terms in order to facilitate the communication within the internal market of the value-adding characteristics or attributes of agricultural products by the producers thereof. It has established conditions of use of the optional quality term ‘mountain product’ and empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts laying down derogations from those conditions of use in duly justified cases and in order to take into account natural constraints affecting agricultural production in mountain areas. That Regulation also empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts concerning the establishment of the methods of production and other criteria relevant for the application of that term.

(2) In order to prevent consumers being misled, the use of the term ‘mountain product’ for products of animal origin should be clarified. For products produced by animals, such as milk and eggs, production should take place in mountain areas. For products made from animals, such as meat, the animals should be raised in mountain areas. As farmers often buy young animals, such animals should spend at least the last two thirds of their life in mountain areas.

(3) Transhumance, including transhumance between pastures in mountain and non-mountain areas, is practised in many areas of the Union to take advantage of the seasonal availability of grazing. It ensures the preservation of higher altitude pastures that are not suited for all-year grazing and of traditional man-made landscapes in mountain areas. Transhumance also has direct environmental benefits, for example reducing the risk of erosion and avalanches. In order to encourage the continued practice of transhumance, it should therefore also be allowed to apply the term ‘mountain product’ to products made from transhumant animals which spend at least a quarter of their lifetime on pastures in mountain areas.

(4) In order to ensure that feedstuffs for farm animals come essentially from mountain areas, it should be clarified that, in principle, at least half of their annual animal diet, expressed as a percentage of dry matter, should consist of feedstuffs coming from mountain areas.

(5) As available feedstuffs for ruminants in mountain areas represent more than half of their annual diet, this percentage should be higher in their case.

(6) Because of natural constraints and the fact that feedstuffs produced in mountain areas are primarily for ruminants,

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