The draft Ordinance concerns the labelling of foods

First Ordinance amending the Food Information Implementing Ordinance

In accordance with the underlying EU law, the present Ordinance aims to create the national legal basis for the voluntary labelling of foods with the Nutri-Score label.

Nutri-Score is a label for extended nutrition labelling. A five-point scale from A to E shows an overall value for a product’s nutritional value. For this purpose, the calorie count and various nutritional values are offset against each other.

Nutri-Score is a Community collective mark registered with the European Union Intellectual Property Office. The mark proprietor is the French Agence nationale de la santé publique (or Santé publique France for short). It has established conditions of use for the use of the mark, which also includes registration.

In its opening clause, the draft Ordinance creates the legal framework for food labelling for the approval of voluntary use of the Nutri-Score label in Germany.

The already applicable trade mark regulations remain unaffected. For clarification, the draft Ordinance indicates that the use of the mark in Germany particularly necessitates that the consent required under trade mark law be obtained and that the conditions of use of the trade mark proprietor be observed.

Publications of German versions of the relevant French documents are intended to simplify participation in the system, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. The publications serve as an aid; the language versions of the mark proprietor, which are particularly relevant under trade mark law, remain legally binding.

Key words: Labelling; food; nutrition labelling; Nutri-Score