Government urged to resist EU plan to enforce geographic indicators

THE Australian Dairy Industry Council has urged the Federal Government not to cave in to pressure from the EU over “geographic indicators”.

Cheese labels: Australia will have to change the name of its locally produced Haloumi cheese if the European Union gets its way under a free trade deal planned with the Australian Government.

THE Australian Dairy Industry Council has urged the Federal Government not to cave in to pressure from the European Union over “geographic indicators” — a key sticking point in trade negotiations.

Under geographic indicator labelling rules, Australia would be prevented from using terms such as feta, parmesan and haloumi in cheese manufacture.

The GI rules state food or beverages bearing the name of a region where it originated — such as Champagne — will not be able to use that label if it is produced outside the region.

The ADIC said banning the use of cheese labels, such as parmesan, feta and haloumi, would cost the Australian dairy industry about $180 million in sales and $55 million in exports.

ADIC chairman Terry Richardson said Australian dairy manufacturers would be forced to change the names of locally produced common cheese types — a “nightmare scenario”.

“A quick look in any supermarket cheese section will show you that many Australian dairy manufacturers have built their brands on their cultural heritage, and now face the possibility of having that taken from them,” Mr Richardson said. He said the renaming of popular cheese types would confuse and frustrate consumers.

Mr Richardson said the EU was also looking to extend the labelling restrictions to include the colours, flags and symbols of regions in the EU.

The EU’s commissioner for agriculture and regional development Phil Hogan was in Australia last week in the lead-up to resumption of negotiations on an Australia-EU free trade agreement due in March.

The ADIC said the EU had a list of 174 goods produced in Australia that it wanted to be subject to GI labelling rules.

Mr Richardson said the Federal Government needed to take stronger action during the upcoming trade talks to ensure the local dairy industry would not suffer under the FTA.

“The future of the Australian dairy industry depends on the Federal Government’s courage to stay firm in trade negotiations and push back against the EU’s demand to enforce GI restrictions,” he said.

“We need to ensure this deal frees up the trade relationship rather than create technical barriers, such as GIs.”