(1)

In its communication of 20 May 2020 entitled ‘A Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system’ (2), the Commission has announced, among others, that it will revise marketing standards to provide for the uptake and supply of sustainable agricultural products and to reinforce the role of sustainability criteria taking into account the possible impact of these standards on food loss and waste.

(2)

Part VI of Annex VII to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 sets out definitions, designations and sales description for eggs of hens of the Gallus gallus species.

(3)

Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 allows for marking eggs at the production site or at the first packing centre to which eggs are delivered. This implies a certain risk of false marking, unintended or intended, as eggs from different farms and production systems can get mixed and mislabelled. Moreover, in the case of food safety incidents this could lead to problems of traceability. In the light of increasing consumer demand, traceability rules should be strengthened. Technical progress made a wide range of marking technology available at farm level.

(4)

Marking eggs should therefore take place only at the production site. However, account should be taken to the fact that several Member States already developed efficient marking systems at the level of packing centres. Therefore, Member States should be allowed to exempt eggs from marking at the production site when it is carried out in the first packing centre to which eggs are delivered, as long as this exemption is proportionate, non-discriminatory and does not undermine the objective of traceability of the eggs.

(5)

In order to give Member States sufficient time to adjust national legislation this Regulation should start to apply only 12 months after its publication.

(6)

Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 should therefore be amended accordingly,

(1)

point 2 is replaced by the following:

(2)

the following point 2a is inserted: