THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 November 2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs(1), and in particular the second subparagraph of Article 53(2) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Pursuant to the first subparagraph of Article 53(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, the Commission has examined Italy’s application for the approval of amendments to the specification for the protected designation of origin ‘Prosciutto di Parma’ registered under Commission Regulation (EC) No 1107/96 of 12 June 1996 on the registration of geographical indications and designations of origin under the procedure laid down in Article 17 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92(2).
(2) The purpose of the application is to amend the specification as follows.
(3) Following nutritional recommendations which have now been confirmed by the headquarters of the World Health Organisation, the maximum average value for the salt criterion has been reduced from 6,9 % to 6,2 % and the minimum average value from 4,5 % to 4,2 %.
(4) As regards the labelling of sliced and pre-packed ‘Prosciutto di Parma’, the requirement has been included to insert the acronym of the packaging/slicing firm instead of that of the producer under the consortium’s symbol. Moreover, it has been made compulsory to include on the packaging of sliced and pre-packed ‘Prosciutto di Parma’ the name of the producer or, in any case, of a person who is registered in the protected designation of origin monitoring system and is subject to all the monitoring and certification procedures laid down by that system. The specific provisions contained in the Single Document regarding the graphic representation shown on the packaging have been replaced by a less detailed formulation.
(5) The table showing the minimum shelf-lives of the different categories of products and the various types of packaging technology for sliced and pre-packed ‘Prosciutto di Parma’ has been amended in accordance with the results of a number of recent studies on this matter.
(6) A clarification has been inserted in order to identify without ambiguity the categories of pigs’ legs which are eligible for making the product by adding to the current wording ‘main categories of the EEC classification’ the specific information that the legs belong to the categories bearing the letters ‘U’, ‘R’ and ‘O’.
(7) The Commission has examined the amendments in question and concluded that they are justified. Since the amendments are minor within the meaning of the third subparagraph of Article 53(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, the Commission may approve them without following the procedure set out in Articles 50 to 52 of the Regulation,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: