Ombudsman urges improved transparency on food labelling

 

The EU Ombudsman has urged the Commission to improve the transparency of its legislative documents after it rejected two requests for access relating to the announced review of food labelling rules (front-of-pack nutritional information, origin, date marking and list of ingredients in alcohol). The complainant, the association FoodWatch, had asked the Commission for access to all impact assessments and other documents, which the Commission's executive refused on the grounds that the decision-making process was ongoing.  Last February, the Ombudsman found another instance of "maladministration" in the handling of lobbying against the front-of-pack nutrition label Nutri-Score, following a complaint by BEUC. "One of the core principles of the EU is its openness in decision-making," BEUC's Emma Calvert told Euractiv, "but the repeated failure to meet these standards on fron-t-ofpack nutrition labelling raises concerns about how decisions are made and influenced."