Origin Marking

Cerame-Unie welcomes the possible introduction of a compulsory Origin Marking (OM) scheme at EU level for certain imported consumer goods, such as currently discussed by the European Parliament and the Council. The proposal COM(2005) 661 final of the European Commission which aims at establishing such a binding OM scheme for a number of imported consumer goods is now subject to a legislative procedure in the Council and the European Parliament. As regards the EU ceramic industry, the sectors of tableware and ceramic tiles are already included in the scope of the Commission’s proposal. Moreover, Cerame-Unie is in favour of adding bricks and roof tiles to the scope in the course of the legislative procedure.

If adopted, the OM regulation would help to re-establish a level-playing field for the sectors concerned: many of the EU’s main trading partners (for instance China, US, Japan) already require mandatory OM for imported goods and EU exporting companies have to comply with these rules. An EU OM scheme would be fully compatible with existing WTO law. Moreover, the legislative procedure at EU level only concerns a limited number of industrial sectors which are fully supportive of the initiative. OM would increase consumer transparency on the origin of the imported goods concerned and reduce the incidence of fraudulent or misleading indications of origin. The additional administrative costs for placing the origin mark are negligible and are by far outweighed by the benefits for the EU consumer.

On 21 October 2010, the European Parliament’s plenary will vote on the proposal for a European Union (EU)-wide system for the indication of the country of origin of certain products imported from third countries (COM (2005) 661 final).
 
Cerame-Unie and other industry associations strongly support the proposed origin marking regulation and called on all MEPs to vote in favour of the regulation and the amendments adopted by the INTA Committee on 29 September 2010. A broad majority in the European Parliament’s plenary would send a strong signal to the Council of the EU to approve origin marking at first reading.