Mutual Recognition and the Food Industries: Some Unresolved Issues Available to Purchase

Examines Article 30 EC which provides for the free movement of goods between the member states of the European Union. Following the Cassis de Dijon case the Commission of the European Communities articulated the principle of mutual recognition under which products lawfully manufactured and marketed in one member state should have unrestricted access to the markets of all member states. It now appears that Article 30 freedoms do not depend on the coupled requirement of manufacture and marketing, and that these freedoms would apply to any products lawfully marketed in the member states. This being so, Third Country products can presumably benefit from Article 30 freedoms, though many authors had previously thought they could not. Nonetheless much uncertainty remains regarding the application of mutual recognition to Third Country products.