2021/0579/BG
EC/EFTA
BG Bulgaria
  • C00A - AGRICULTURE, FISHING AND FOODSTUFFS
2021-12-03
2021-09-09

The draft Regulation maintains the transposition into national law of the requirements of Council Directive 2001/113/EC of 20 December 2001 relating to fruit jams, jellies and marmalades and sweetened chestnut purée intended for human consumption.

Regulation on the requirements for fruit jams, jellies, marmalades, jelly marmalades and sweetened chestnut puree

A new Food Law was promulgated in the Journal of Laws No. 52 of 09.06.2020. The Act entered into force on the date of its promulgation in the Journal of Laws.

Pursuant to § 8, paragraph 1 of the Transitional and Final Provisions of the Food Act, the sub-legislative acts on its implementation shall be adopted, respectively issued, within 6 months from the entry into force of the Act. In this connection, a draft Regulation on the requirements for fruit jams, jellies, marmalades, jelly-marmalades and sweetened chestnut purée has been drawn up.
The Ordinance is adopted on the basis of Article 5 of the Food Act and will repeal the current Ordinance on the requirements for fruit jams, jellies, marmalades, jelly-marmalades and sweetened chestnut purée, adopted by Decree No 45 of the Council of Ministers of 2003 (Journal of Laws No. 19 of 2003).
The main reason that requires the preparation of a new Ordinance on the requirements for fruit jams, jellies, marmalades, jelly marmalades and sweetened chestnut puree is of a formal nature - the promulgation and entry into force in June 2020 of a new Food Act, which repeals the previous Food Act. According to the requirements of the Bulgarian legislation, all subordinate legal acts (such as the regulations) issued on the basis of specific provisions of the repealed Food Act should be reissued within a certain period of time on the basis of the new
Food Act in force. Where necessary, the reissue of the Ordinance shall also be updated in order to comply with the changes in national and European legislation, as well as the development of technical progress in the field concerned.
The draft Ordinance maintains the transposition into national law of the requirements of Council Directive 2001/113/EC of 20 December 2001 on fruit jams, jellies and marmalades and sweetened chestnut purée intended for human consumption.
Under the Directive, the name 'marmalade' is used for a mixture obtained from water, sugars and one or more of the following products derived from citrus fruit: pulp, puree, juice, peel and water extracts, brought to the required degree of thickening (gelling).
In Bulgaria, the name 'marmalade' is used for a traditional Bulgarian product made from fruit other than citrus (e.g. 'rosehip marmalade'). Historically, the use of this term in this sense predates the transposition of the Directive by a considerable margin in 2003. For this reason, the current 2003 Ordinance, as well as the draft new Ordinance, include provisions of a national nature relating to the term 'fruit marmalade'.