Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1547 of 26 July 2023 entering a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications (‘Gower Salt Marsh Lamb’ (PDO))

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 52(3)(b) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Pursuant to Article 50(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, the application from the United Kingdom to register the name ‘Gower Salt Marsh Lamb’ as protected designation of origin was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (2).

(2) On 8 March 2022, the Commission received from France a notice of opposition. The Commission forwarded the notice of opposition to the United Kingdom on 10 March 2022. On 6 May 2022, France submitted to the Commission a reasoned statement of opposition.

(3) After examining the reasoned statement of opposition and founding it admissible, in accordance with Article 51(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, the Commission invited the United Kingdom and France, by letter of 30 June 2022, to engage in appropriate consultations in view of reaching an agreement.

(4) On 28 September 2022, on request of the United Kingdom, the Commission extended the deadline for consultations by one month. The consultations between the United Kingdom and France ended without an agreement being reached.

(5) The Commission should therefore take a decision on the registration in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 52(3)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 taking into account the results of these consultations.

(6) The main arguments of France as set out in its reasoned statement of opposition and in the consultations carried out with the United Kingdom can be summarised as follows.

(7) France claimed that it should be specified as required by Article 7(1)(e) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 whether the freezing of the meat is authorised. The opponent stated that if the freezing is allowed, this could destabilise the market for the two French PDO ‘Prés-salés de la baie de Somme’ and ‘Prés-salés du Mont-Saint-Michel’ which are available on the market only from July to November and lead to unfair competition. The specifications of these products prohibit freezing and thawing of the meat.

(8) Moreover, the opponent claimed that provisions defining the salt marshes that are provided in the product specification should be added to the single document considering that the link between the product claimed as a PDO and the demarcated geographical area requires to be defined in the single document in accordance with Article 8(1)(c)(ii) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012.

(9) The United Kingdom specified that preferably the meat should be sold and eaten fresh, although the meat may be frozen. Once frozen the meat must be sold frozen. The product specification as well as the single document have been amended accordingly.

(10) The United Kingdom has also included the maps and GPS coordinates which demarcate the salt marshes to the single document.

(11) France considered those amendments insufficient to satisfy its claims and further requested clarifications on the period during which the product is available frozen on the market. As regards the definition of salt marshes, they requested the inclusion of certain parts of the product specification in the single document in particular the detailed definition of ‘salt marsh’ and the related specific requirements.

(12) The Commission has assessed the arguments exposed in the reasoned statement of opposition from France in the light of the provisions of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, taking into account the results of the appropriate consultations carried out between the applicant and the opponent and has reached the following conclusions.

(13) As regards the alleged non-compliance of the PDO application with the conditions laid down in Article 7(1)(e) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, freezing of the meat is not per se a method of obtaining the product. Article 7(1)(e) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 does not require the inclusion of a specific rule on the possibility to freeze the meat, nor the period during which the product can be sold frozen. This is left to the choice of the applicant whether to insert rules of that kind. Following the opposition the applicant chose to specify the regime of the frozen product. Rules on freezing the product are relevant to the description of the product. In view of the foregoing, the condition referred to in Article 7(1)(e) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, should be considered as fulfilled.

(14) As regards the claim concerning alleged non-compliance with Article 8(1)(c)(ii) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, the single document correctly and exhaustively describes ‘the link between the product and the geographical environment or geographical origin’. The characteristics and quality of the product are influenced by two key factors including the lamb’s natural diet which consists of grazing the unique saltmarsh vegetation found on the north Gower coastline. The single document further specifies that the salt marshes have a unique range of halophytic plants dominated by mid and upper marsh plant communities with strong representation of the two Annex 1 EC habitats and Species directive: Atlantic Sea Meadows and Salicornia and other annuals colonising mud and sand. A map and GPS coordinate showing the area covered by these salt marshes has also been included to the single document by the applicant in response to the claim made by France. The single document is a summary of the product specification. The additional elements that the opponent requests to insert are not essential elements for the understanding of the production method. In the light of the above, the requirements of Article 8(1)(c)(ii) of the said Regulation should be considered as fulfilled.

(15) In the context of the consultations between the parties, both the single document and the product specification were amended. Since those amendments are not considered substantial, in accordance with Article 51(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, the Commission did not repeat the scrutiny of the application and concluded that the conditions for registration were fulfilled.

(16) In the light of the above, the name ‘Gower Salt Marsh Lamb’ should be entered in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications. The consolidated version of the single document should be published for information only.

(17) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Agricultural Product Quality Policy Committee,

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The name ‘Gower Salt Marsh Lamb’ (PDO) is registered.

The name in the first paragraph identifies a product from Class 1.1 Fresh meat (and offal) set out in Annex XI to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 668/2014 (3).

Article 2

The consolidated single document is set out in the Annex to this Regulation.

Article 3

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 26 July 2023.

For the Commission The President Ursula VON DER LEYEN

(1) OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1.

(2) OJ C 492, 8.12.2021, p. 8.

(3) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 668/2014 of 13 June 2014 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs (OJ L 179, 19.6.2014, p. 36).