Written question asked by John Hayes (Conservative) on Thursday, 6 November 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 20 November 2003. It was answered by Ben Bradshaw (Labour) on Thursday, 20 November 2003 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government has sought to amend EC Regulation 2597/97 in accordance with the Milk Task Force recommendations of December 2001.

Answer: Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Government has sought to amend EC Regulation 2597/97 in accordance with the Milk Task Force recommendations of December 2001. [137896] Mr. Bradshaw: We wrote to interested parties on changing the rules on the fat content of drinking milk in Council Regulation (EC) No. 2597/97 in February 2002, as part of our follow-up to the Milk Task Force and to prepare for possible Commission proposals to amend the regulations. The response we received was mixed. Whilst there was some support for liberalising the rules, there was also concern that it might undermine the well established categories of drinking milk to the detriment of consumers and dairy processors. The Commission in their report on these rules, which was published earlier this year, also found no consensus in favour of changes. It has therefore proposed no changes for the time being, but will initiate a review in 2007, with a view to harmonising rules across the enlarged Community in 2009 when the existing derogations from the rules for Finland, Sweden and several accession countries will expire.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 137896; 413 c1207-8W;413 c1205W
Session: 2002-03
Subjects: Dairy farming Dairy products EU action Milk Regulation Standardisation Milk Task Force
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk