Consumer protection requires transparent and consistent trade rules, believe MEPs. In particular, compulsory origin marking is needed to obtain more complete information about social and environmental standards of production and about processing standards.
MEPs also want the Commission to intervene whenever there is evidence of fraudulent or misleading origin marking by importers and non-EU producers.
At present, there are no harmonised origin marking rules at European level. Rules on "made in" marking of products imported from outside EU thus vary between Member States.
In a resolution adopted on Wednesday by 529 votes to 27, with 37 abstentions, Parliament urged the Commission not to drop its proposal for an EU regulation that would introduce compulsory country of origin labelling for certain products, such as textiles, footwear, ceramics and furniture.
The Commission submitted its draft regulation in 2005 but the procedure ground to a halt in the Council when it was blocked by some Member States. The updated Commission draft would not apply to products that are not for final consumption nor to imports from countries covered by free trade agreements with EU.
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