Council publishes the position to be adopted on the commercial standard applicable to olive oils and olive-pomace oils

Council Decision (EU) 2025/1213 of 12 June 2025 announces the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European Union, in the Council of Members of the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) concerning the trade standard for olive oils and olive-pomace oils.

The decision to be adopted during the 121st session of the Council of Members has been extensively discussed between scientific and technical experts on olive oil of the Commission and of the Member States. That decision will contribute to the international harmonisation of standards for olive oils and will establish a framework which will ensure fair competition in the trading of products of the olive oil sector. The Union should therefore support the adoption of that decision.

The European Union shall support the following amendments of the IOC trade standard (Trade standard COI/T.15/NC No 4 applying to olive oils and olive-pomace oils) at the 121st session of the Council of Members of the IOC to be held in July 2025 or within the framework of a procedure for adoption of decisions by the Council of Members by an exchange of correspondence initiated before its next regular session in November 2025:

• Inclusion of revision 4 of the method of analysis for the determination of wax and fatty acid ethyl ester content by capillary column gas chromatography (COI/T.20/Doc. No. 28/Rev. 4).
• Inclusion of the method for the determination of diglyceride and triglyceride content (COI/T.20/Doc. No 32).
• Inclusion of a footnote changing the limit for total sterols for monovarietal olive oils obtained from either Koroneiki or Nocellara del Belice olive varieties, pending further scientific studies.
• The deletion of the detection of traces of halogenated solvents in the trade standard.

Technical adaptations to other methods or documents of the IOC may be agreed to by the representatives of the Union in the Council of Members of the IOC without further decision of the Council if they result from amendments referred to in the first paragraph.

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