Proposed reforms to the European Union (EU) legal system for protecting traditional geographical terms used to sell EU food – such as Roquefort cheese – have been broadly supported by the European Parliament’s influential agriculture committee.


Supporting bringing EU rules in line with a World Trade Organisation ruling, MEPs agreed that traditional products made outside the EU should also be eligible for the same protection.


However, MEPs added that labels should make clear these foreign products were made outside the EU. The committee also questioned proposals to allow member states to register traditional terms for Europe-wide protection, calling for the job to be handled by an EU agency.