EU-wide comparison of the characteristics and presentation of branded food products (2021)
Differences in composition of seemingly identical branded food products (DC-SIP) occur when a good is marketed in one Member State as being identical (same brand labelling and same or similar front-of-pack appearance) to a good marketed in another Member State while that good has a significantly different composition or significantly different characteristics. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) developed a common testing methodology to examine the occurrence of this practice in the European single market. This methodology was applied in the first EU-wide testing campaign in 2018/2019. The objective of this study is to replicate the 2018/2019 testing campaign to provide figures for 2021 on the occurrence of DC-SIP in the European single market and to compare them with the results of the 2018/2019 testing campaign. In addition to the result of this comparison, this report presents the results of a survey of brand owners about their (potential) actions regarding DC-SIP in response to recent regulatory changes, namely the amended Directive 2005/29/EC – the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) – where a specific provision on DC-SIP (Article 6(2)(c)) was introduced by Directive (EU) 2019/2161.
NES Kjersti;
ANTONIOLI Federico;
DI MARCANTONIO Federica;
CIAIAN Pavel;
2023-07-20
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC131303
978-92-68-01245-1 (online),
1831-9424 (online),
EUR 31453 EN,
OP KJ-NA-31-453-EN-N (online),
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC131303,
10.2760/8399 (online),
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