Sweet victory for chocolate firms
Up to now, both countries have refused to sell chocolate from a number of countries, including Ireland, unless it was called chocolate substitute.
They argued that because it contained up to 5% vegetable fat it was not chocolate.
But yesterday, the court in Luxembourg settled the question once and for all: Irish chocolate is the real thing, they said. Ireland’s biggest chocolate manufacturer, Cadbury’s, welcomed the decision.
“The Irish business has done very well with the opening up of the European market and hopefully, this will lead to new export opportunities,” said Frank Dillon of Cadbury’s.
They employ more than 1,600 people in Dublin and Kerry and export more than 80% of their products. Spain and Italy were the last in the EU to hold out against chocolate made in Ireland, Britain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
Three years ago, the EU reached a compromise agreement on the issue of what constituted chocolate.
Up to then, the continental countries that pride themselves on their chocolate, such as Belgium, looked down on chocolate with any vegetable fat or milk added.
The row had raged for almost 30 years and only in 1999 did all the countries agree that chocolate was still chocolate if it contained no more than 5% vegetable fat or 20% milk.
But Italy and Spain held out against vegetable fat and said this was in the interest of consumer protection. The court ruled their action was against the common market.
“The obligation to market those products in Spain and Italy as chocolate substitute restricts the principle of the free movement of goods enshrined in the EC Treaty,” said a court spokesperson.
