The interplay of public and private actors when creating the rules on food origin labelling

This research is dedicated to the study of country of origin labelling (hereinafter, COOL) within the EU Law domain. The first goal is to analyse whether or not mandatory COOL legislation complies with the functioning of the EU Single Market as well as of the WTO legal order. The second purpose is to fathom the way in which public actors – WTO, European institutions and Member States –and private parties – consumers and business operators – interact in order to develop and implement rules on country of origin labelling. The dissertation proceeds as follows. The first part – Chapters 1, 2, 3 - is dedicated to the analysis of the legislation on country-of-origin labelling. Three levels are taken into account, namely the international, the EU and the national one. The core of this first part is constituted by the analysis of Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 1169 of 2011, on the provision of food information to consumers. Under Article 26, the indication of the country of origin on labels remains on a voluntary basis. As additional mandatory particulars can be set by the Member States (MS), the Italian and French legislation on mandatory COOL schemes for specific products will be examined as a case-study. In the second part, such a legal framework will constitute the background for the discussion on the effects of COOL on both trade and consumers. Chapter 4 will analyse the international system of the rules of origin as well as the Union Customs Code. In Chapter 5 the consumers’ perspective on country of origin labelling will be pointed out. The origin indication will be addressed as a matter of right to be informed – pursuant Article 169 TFUE -, questioning the effectiveness of labels in providing information and influencing consumers’ behaviour. The last part of the thesis is devoted to the analysis of the country of origin labelling system within the current global food governance. The concepts of origin will be discussed in view of the tension between the globalized food supply chain and the growing demand for localization, as more respondent to sustainable goals. The conclusion offers a critical analysis on the current trends of commoditization of food. It will discuss whether or not it is possible to untie the concept of the country of origin from purely market-driven interests and to what extent this new approach can be applied to food policy-making.