UK multiple retailer Asda has won a High Court ruling after the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) took the grocer to court for contravening EU food marketing rules.
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DEFRA accused Wal-Mart subsidiary Asda of breaking 14 EU marketing rules. The rules classify food by shape, size and quality and have been ridiculed by elements of the UK food industry and media as unnecessary meddling by the EU. The allegations against Asda included selling damaged lettuces, failure to mark apples with their variety and failure to classify oranges and lemons.
High Court judges Christopher Rose and Richard Gibbs said the EU quality standards were ‘unknown to law’ and thus could not be used to prosecute Asda. The judges ruled that the British government has not given legal status to EU food rules dating back to 1973, reported Reuters. They said domestic law had failed to allow for any amendments to EU rules after the 1964 Agriculture and Horticulture Act and its 1973 amendments.
DEFRA may now decide to appeal to the House of Lords
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