Costly sledgehammer to crack an EC nut
I digress; the main issue is why the EC has decided to pay good money for such a review. As a method of deciding on this matter it seems like a costly sledgehammer to crack a nut. Its value is questionable, particularly as it smacks of a delaying tactic because there is so much emotion around the subject that the EC might prefer to shift to another entity the responsibility for deciding on whether to introduce compulsory country of origin labelling (COOL).
‘In the minority’
The UK seems to be in the minority among Member States that support compulsory COOL. At the same time the UK government supports import substitution, and COOL could be seen as a tool to help towards meeting this objective. It is also seen as a way of helping farmers on the assumption (possibly mistaken) that people will stop buying imported meat and dairy products purely because they did not previously realise that they were imported.
If we want people to eat more British agricultural products, and that is an entirely laudable objective, there are better ways of achieving that: better marketing and encouraging consumers to pay more for food in general and provenance in particular. More legislation will make no difference without a change in consumer attitude towards the value of food. Nor will it help to stamp out fraud of the horsemeat variety. Fraudsters will simply use whatever labels they like because deception is a necessary part of the fraud.
Do supporters of compulsory COOL, including UK politicians, really believe nationalistic fervour will discourage people from buying imports? And that this negative approach would be more effective than encouraging British producers to use better marketing of British produce on its undoubted merits to stimulate demand?
‘More legislation is unnecessary’
More legislation is unnecessary. If there is evidence that food is being misleadingly labelled as to origin, the existing legislation could be enforced to deal with it. Why doesn't someone bring a test case?
It is also ironic that the government, while pressing for a better deal with the EU in order to break free from some of the legislation arising from it, can with the same breath support more red tape, which seems to have little support from other Member States.
