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European Dairy Trade Association

Eucolait

The European Dairy Trade Association (Eucolait) represents the interests of companies in the European dairy trade sector.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Elisabetta Siracusa (Director Agriculture and Rural Development) and

12 Jan 2026 · Milk Trade

Meeting with Catherine Combette (Head of Unit Agriculture and Rural Development)

19 Nov 2025 · Update on Free Trade Agreements negotiations (FTA) in Asia/Australasia region.

Meeting with Bernard Van Goethem (Director Health and Food Safety) and

19 Nov 2025 · The future EU-UK SPS agreement and the possible benefits for the European dairy sector

Meeting with Antonio Malta Reis (Cabinet of Commissioner Christophe Hansen), Johannes Van Den Bossche (Cabinet of Commissioner Christophe Hansen)

18 Nov 2025 · Ongoing trade policy topics which are crucial from a dairy export and trade perspective

Meeting with Claire Bury (Deputy Director-General Health and Food Safety)

29 Sept 2025 · the implementation of the Vision for Agriculture and Food, sustainability in the dairy sector, the future EU-UK SPS agreement and the regulatory components of the EU-US framework agreement published in september.

Meeting with Catherine Combette (Head of Unit Agriculture and Rural Development)

26 Jun 2025 · Update on Free Trade Agreements negotiations (FTA) in Asia/Australasia region

Meeting with Elena Panichi (Head of Unit Agriculture and Rural Development)

1 Apr 2025 · Exchange of views on the current and prospective trade situation between the EU and the US

Meeting with Pierre Bascou (Deputy Director-General Agriculture and Rural Development) and Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins and

17 Mar 2025 · Exchange of views on the Vision for the Future of Agriculture and agri-food trade.

Meeting with Elisabetta Siracusa (Director Agriculture and Rural Development) and Comité Européen des Entreprises Vins and

28 Jan 2025 · Introduction of CELCAA’s new President and exchange of views on recent developments on international agricultural trade.

European Dairy Trade Association demands end to food protectionism

23 Jan 2025
Topic — The consultation seeks to remove regulatory barriers within the EU single market.
Message — The association urges the Commission to block national labeling rules and uphold mutual recognition. They specifically oppose mandatory country-of-origin labeling for dairy products across the EU.12
Why — Ending these requirements would lower administrative burdens and facilitate cross-border dairy trade.3
Impact — National governments and protectionist interests lose the ability to favor local dairy producers.4
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Meeting with Tomas Baert (Cabinet of President Ursula von der Leyen) and European farmers and

3 Dec 2024 · Trade tensions - strategic thinking for agri-food trade

Eucolait urges permanent duty-free dairy trade with Ukraine

27 Sept 2024
Topic — This consultation concerns the reciprocal elimination of customs duties between the EU and Ukraine.
Message — Eucolait calls for full reciprocal duty-free access for dairy between the EU and Ukraine. They advocate for permanent tariff liberalisation to integrate the Ukrainian dairy sector into the European market.12
Why — European dairy exporters would secure duty-free access during the future reconstruction of Ukraine.3
Impact — Ukrainian domestic producers may face heavy competition from high volumes of European cheese.4
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Meeting with Janusz Wojciechowski (Commissioner) and

22 Apr 2024 · EU Promotion Policy These meetings were hold during the whole HLM

Response to Application of EU health and environmental standards to imported agricultural and agri-food products

28 Feb 2022

Eucolait, the European Dairy Trade welcomes the opportunity to provide its feedback to the call for evidence on the application of EU health and environmental standards to imported agricultural and agri-food products. Eucolait supports the European ambition towards a more sustainable food systems and trade policy. In our view, the implementation of high health and environmental standards should primarily be envisioned and negotiated at an international level. In this sense, the EU should leverage its position as the world’s largest exporter and third largest importer of agri-food products by leading the way on increasing sustainability of food supply chains.
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Response to Sustainable food system – setting up an EU framework

18 Oct 2021

Eucolait supports the shift towards increasingly sustainable food systems and the overall objectives of this initiative. We have followed the progress of the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy (F2F) with interest and were actively involved in the discussions around and are a signatory of the Code of Conduct for responsible business and marketing practices. From our perspective, the starting point needs to be an honest and thorough assessment of where Europe’s food system stands in terms of its sustainability performance. There should also be recognition of the actions already taken by operators in the food supply chain to move towards climate neutral and circular business models, to reduce waste, to further improve animal welfare or to increase nutritional and health benefits through innovative products. The “shift to a sustainable food system”, as mentioned in the roadmap, does not start from scratch. Please find attached our position.
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Response to Review of the EU school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme - EU aid

30 Jun 2021

Eucolait wishes to highlight the importance of maintaining funding for the distribution of milk and dairy products in the schools’ scheme. Recent Commission initiatives in the context of Farm to Fork (for example the Code of Conduct for Responsible Business and Marketing Practices) stress the need to promote healthy diets and to tackle obesity. We agree with this overarching goal: products such as drinking milk and dairy (cheese, yoghurt etc.) form part of a healthy and balanced diet and are a good source of protein, calcium and vitamins. The recent pandemic (during which schools were closed and children had to stay at home) saw a marked increase in the consumption of drinking milk. This indicates that EU families see the value in dairy consumption. The future of the schools scheme should reflect this.
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Response to Revision of EU marketing standards for agricultural products

2 Feb 2021

Eucolait, representing traders of dairy products and ingredients, firmly supports the marketing standards for dairy products, as they have proven that they are fit for purpose. Their continued inclusion in the single Common Market Organisation Regulation in the context of the ongoing CAP reform is certainly warranted. In addition, the protection of dairy terms against imitations needs to be maintained and reinforced. In October 2020, MEPs rightfully voted largely in favour of clarifying the protection granted to dairy terms by banning terms such as ‘vegan cheese’ or descriptions such as ‘yoghurt like’ for plant-based products. The Commission report on the evaluation of marketing standards published last autumn acknowledges the value of marketing standards, while at the same time recognizing that certain changes should be made to accommodate innovations in the supply chain. In this respect, we can support option 2 (alignment with the Lisbon treaty) or option 3 (alignment with Lisbon and revise, modernize and improve current marketing standards with consolidation of existing legislation) as outlined under section B (‘objectives and policy options’) in the road map. In terms of possible changes in the context of option 3, information which dilutes the purpose of marketing standards (i.e. ensuring that products fulfil certain minimum measurable criteria, guaranteeing a level playing field) should not be included. Schemes which highlight the sustainability aspects of a product, such as animal welfare, the fairness of the milk price or the environmental footprint should not be mixed with the basic compositional requirements of a product, such as the fat or protein content. The former qualities can be highlighted by providing additional information on the packaging of the product, rather than being used as a means of defining a product (e.g. skimmed milk powder is skimmed milk powder, irrespective of its carbon footprint). With respect to products for which there is no internationally recognized Codex Alimentarius standard, we consider that the priority should always be to agree with global partners on such a standard rather than focusing solely on an EU marketing standards. Globally recognized standards are key for facilitating trade. Further details are included in the attached position paper.
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Response to Setting of nutrient profiles

25 Jan 2021

Eucolait welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on this initiative, which covers several areas of food information. Recognising the goals of the Commission’s ambitious Farm to Fork policy, Eucolait calls on the legislators to take a sensible ‘whole diet’ approach to nutritional guidelines, in which all foods can be enjoyed as part of a healthy, sensible and sustainable diet. As the organization representing the trade in dairy products and ingredients, Eucolait is fully committed to the concept of an open and functional single market, in which products can move freely without barriers or disruptions. Products from different Member States should be treated the same on all EU national markets and preferential treatment should not directly or indirectly be applied to domestically produced products or ingredients. The free movement of goods is one the corner stones of the European Union.
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Response to Contingency plan for ensuring food supply and food security

11 Jan 2021

In our part of the world, permanent access to safe and nutritious food in abundant quantities tends to be taken for granted by many citizens. The food security fears experienced especially during the first weeks of lockdown in spring, as demonstrated by widespread hoarding, taught us to better appreciate the crucial role played by actors all along through the food supply chain, from farm to fork. The dairy as well as other sectors of the food supply chain have operated efficiently since the beginning of the pandemic and there was never a real threat to food security. Nevertheless, the initiative arising out of the Farm to Fork strategy to introduce a crisis response mechanism could not have come at a more appropriate and timely moment. Overall, trade responded well to the demands of the pandemic, notwithstanding certain challenges such as border issues caused by unilateral actions of Member States, sharp drops in demand for certain products due to the collapse of food service consumption, or logistical problems caused by port congestion. Some of these challenges could be avoided in similar scenarios in the future with the help of a solid contingency plan. Trade has a huge role to play in any future contingency plan rolled out by the Commission, by ensuring that offer and demand are balanced. Food security is achieved through a combination of local, national, European and international supplies and in that spirit, we need to ‘keep the milk moving’. Please find attached our more comprehensive feedback to this initiative.
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Response to Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism

31 Mar 2020

Eucolait welcomes the opportunity to comment on this roadmap in view of introducing carbon border adjustment measures, with the ultimate aim of helping to achieve carbon neutrality in the EU by 2050. Eucolait agrees with the overarching goals of the Green Deal and supports the shift towards increasingly sustainable food systems, while at the same time meeting the growing demand for food. It is clear that trade policy has an important role to play in this regard. Producers in the EU are faced with growing demands and requirements with regard to environmental and climate performance. While avoiding carbon leakage caused by imports of products which are more carbon intensive than their EU equivalents might be helpful in ensuring high ambitions in carbon reductions and a level playing field, efforts must be made to ensure that any action taken is fully in line with WTO rules and other agreements concluded by the EU. Regardless of the form that the carbon border adjustment mechanism would take, designing a WTO-proof instrument will be tricky because this is basically uncharted territory in international trade law. This type of measures have not to date been put in place by any country, let alone tested in the WTO system. In this context, it will be necessary to make sure that the administrative burden the scheme would create is not such that it will in practice deter imports. It will be equally crucial to thoroughly consult all trading partners and representatives of the affected sectors throughout the legislative process. Even a carefully designed and well intended mechanism could unintentionally become a significant barrier to trade and/or discriminate against certain operators. We seek to avoid that any new policy instrument will be interpreted as a discriminatory and protectionist measure by third country trading partners. We have seen on multiple occasions, for instance in the EU-US aircraft dispute, whereby measures deemed protectionist and trade distorting in non-agricultural sectors had a knock-on effect on agricultural goods. Retaliatory tariffs, import bans or other trade restrictive measures are the last thing the EU dairy sector, which has suffered a huge number of demand shocks lately, needs. Care needs to be taken that milk production is not shifted from Europe to other regions where it is less efficient and has a higher carbon foot print. This is exactly what will happen if European dairy exports are hit with additional barriers. Eucolait calls on the Commission to take a sensible and measured approach, which does not restrict imports or create trade tensions. Moreover, with respect to any possibility that carbon border adjustment could be extended directly to imports of agricultural products, given the very marginal imports of dairy products imported into the EU annually (and mainly from Switzerland) we feel it would be appropriate to exclude dairy from this discussion. Finally, in light of the corona pandemic which is currently raging, we feel it would be appropriate to postpone the discussion on this and other initiatives under the Green Deal and to focus all efforts on tackling the short and long term consequences caused by the virus.
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Response to Farm to Fork Strategy

11 Mar 2020

Following the unveiling of the European Green Deal in December, its food policy component – the farm to fork strategy, is now being rolled out. Eucolait supports the shift towards increasingly sustainable food systems and is convinced that trade has a key role to play in this regard. While the connection between trade and prosperity is well-known and established, the link between trade and sustainability is less obvious. There is certainly a lot to be done when it comes to transport emissions, as already outlined in the Green Deal communication but the positive contributions of (dairy) trade should not be neglected. Trade is crucial for ensuring food security by reallocating products from surplus to deficit regions, since not all areas can enjoy 100% self-sufficiency. The importance of trade for food security will grow further as a result of the negative impacts of climate change which will not be evenly spread across the planet. It is not viable or efficient to produce all kinds of agricultural products in all parts of the world. From food security and environmental perspectives, it makes more sense to trade than trying to achieve self-sufficiency in milk everywhere. The EU is world’s largest exporter and importer of agri-food products and we believe it should remain that way. Europe has to be open for business with the rest of the world, especially in the current climate. Open and rule-based trade will be essential for achieving a sustainable food future. When working towards the established sustainability targets, incentives should be prioritised over regulation. The strategy should be as market driven as possible to encourage European businesses to invest in new technologies. Eucolait welcomes many of the initial ideas outline in the Green Deal communication and the Farm to Fork roadmap. At the same time, we stress the crucial role of trade in the strategy and warn against any measures based on protectionist premises. Europe should lead the way towards more sustainable food systems but this has to be combined with openness towards the rest of the world.
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Response to Enhancing Market transparency in the agri-food chain

12 Jun 2019

Eucolait welcomes the consultation on the draft implementing regulation amending the current rules on notifications of dairy market data to the Commission. We have submitted numerous statements on the subject of market transparency throughout the consultation process and to the Agricultural Market Task Force. Our key message remains that the market orientation of EU dairy policy needs to be accompanied by comprehensive, reliable and timely market information to provide operators in the dairy supply chain with the right signals. Market transparency is also essential for building and maintaining trust between actors in the supply chain. From the outset, it is worth highlighting that in the dairy sector, the products defer in pricing depending on origin, producing company, brand, specification etc. It would therefore be unrealistic to expect the same transparency as with soy, grain or other commodities that are traded in bigger volumes on a more homogeneous market. 1. Improvements to existing data The EU dairy market already enjoys a high degree of transparency. We have therefore continuously stressed that the primary focus of any new initiative should be to improve the quality and timeliness of existing data. In this sense, we fully support the requirement that milk deliveries would have to be notified by the 15th of each month (instead of the 25th). It is also crucial that the fat and protein content would be part of the notification since in the end it is the total milk solids delivered that matter. If possible, the volumes should be notified directly by the operators to the Commission via the relevant IT system rather than via Member States authorities so as to avoid any delays. Even though apparently not covered by the regulation, we hope that the monthly output volumes of the various dairy products (cheese, butter, powders etc.) will also be updated by the 15th. In the same vein, we appreciate the planned faster notification of the prices of raw milk by the 15th of each month (with respect to the preceding month). 2. New notifications The draft implementing regulation also provides for new notification requirements for products that have so far not been covered and adds the obligation to notify buying prices for butter and cheese. We would like to make the following observations with regard to each of the proposed additions: - Organic milk This is a growing market niche characterised by a lack of comprehensive data and Eucolait therefore supports the publication of information on production and prices at European level. - Milk powder with vegetable fat There is currently no publicly available information on the prices or production of fat filled powder and even trade volumes are only estimates since dedicated CN code(s) for this product group do not (yet) exist. The challenge lies in the multitude of products described as fat filled. Unlike for SMP, WMP or butter, there is no clear definition or marketing standard. A minimum milk protein content should be set for a product to be considered as fat filled powder (e.g. 24%). We would strongly encourage the Commission to rapidly finalise the process of establishing dedicated CN codes for fat filled powders. Due to the growing importance of this product category, information on production and import/export trade flows would be relevant from a market analysis perspective. - Selling prices of cream Bulk cream is traded in large quantities and also increasingly exported. As such, having a European price reference makes sense but a clear product definition is required. - Selling prices of drinking milk We question the value of publishing such prices. Due to the large number of “quality schemes” (pasture milk, GMO-free, local milk, fair milk, lactose-free, enhanced with vitamins etc.) the price of milk varies greatly between basic private label milk and any higher value alternative. Continues in the attachment
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Response to Evaluation of Geographical Indications and Traditional Specialities Guaranteed protected in the EU

6 May 2019

Eucolait recognises the role geographical indications and traditional specialities guaranteed play in adding value to high-quality European food products. In the dairy sector, this benefit largely applies to cheese. We therefore support this system as a means of augmenting the value of quality products from specific regions, areas and Member States. From an international reputational perspective, quality schemes raise awareness on third country markets of the special characteristics and benefits of EU products. The latest Commission long term agricultural outlook projects that going forward (to 2030) more and more EU exports will be covered by either a quality scheme or geographical indication. While acknowledging the important role of quality schemes, we nevertheless cannot support the ‘sacrificing’ or cancelling of trade negotiations when there is a dispute over protection of certain names. Geographical indications cannot be treated as ‘the last straw’ in trade talks, which if completed will often greatly boost the market access possibilities for all products, not just those covered under a quality scheme.
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Response to Commission Implementing Regulation on the provision of voluntary indication of origin or place of provenance of foods

31 Jan 2018

Our members trade dairy products within and between EU Member States as well as globally. Any rules concerning the labelling of origin of dairy products have the potential to considerably affect those trade flows and the business choices of the companies concerned. Eucolait has always been an advocate of voluntary origin labelling. We strongly believe that where there is consumer demand for origin information, such information will be provided by the actors in the dairy supply chain, because it is in their commercial interest to do so. We also agree that, in a single market, it makes sense to lay down the conditions for the use of voluntary origin claims at EU level. The main purpose of the draft implementing regulation is to determine how the origin of the primary ingredient should be indicated, if different from the origin of the food which is given on a voluntary basis. In this respect, we welcome the broad range of possibilities provided for in article 2 on how to indicate the origin or provenance of the primary ingredient. Both geographical indications and trade marks are subject to specific EU rules and should therefore be excluded from the scope of this implementing regulation. In our view, trade marks cannot constitute voluntary origin claims at all and therefore do not fall under the scope of article 26 (3). If the legislator had wished to include trade marks, this would have already been mentioned in the basic regulation 1169/2011. Hence, they should be explicitly excluded and not be subject to further examination or to the adoption of additional, specific rules. Over the past 18 months, we have seen a regrettable proliferation of national measures providing for the indication of the country of origin or place of provenance on a mandatory basis. These measures are disintegrating the EU single market for dairy and other food products. Once the present draft implementing regulation containing detailed and harmonised European rules on origin labelling is adopted, the Commission should ensure than any trials or initiatives at national level are immediately discontinued. This is explicitly provided for in the preamble to the Italian decree on mandatory origin labelling for milk and dairy products (which entered into force in spring 2017 and will apply until 31 March 2019). It is stated that the decree should apply ‘pending adoption of implementing acts by the European Commission pursuant to… Article 26, paragraph 8 (of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011)’. Now that this implementing regulation has been published, it would appear that the need for an ‘experimental science labelling of pre-packaged products containing milk’ has come to an end. We suggest that the same logic as for the Italian decree should be applied to the mandatory origin labelling schemes which have been rolled out in other Member States.
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Response to Evaluation of six Euro-Med FTAs

7 Dec 2017

Eucolait welcomes the planned evaluation of the association agreements with these 6 Euromed partners. All of them are also important markets for EU dairy products, albeit to different decrees. Together these 6 countries account for an estimated €1,4 billion of dairy imports from the EU in 2017, led by Algeria (currently our 3rd export destination in the world) and followed by Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia, in that order. Apart from Tunisia, none of these countries is self-sufficient when it comes to dairy despite growing milk production, making continued reliance on imports a necessity. Market access conditions for EU dairy products vary considerably from one country to another. In Egypt and Jordan, all EU dairy products can enter duty free, whereas only very limited concessions are in place in Tunisia. In Morocco, EU exporters enjoy duty free access for most products as a result of the 2012 agricultural agreement, except for WMP and UHT which are excluded and SMP for which a longer phasing out period applies. Similarly, no customs duties are applied to most EU dairy products in Lebanon, with the exception of certain cheese lines in particular. EU exports to Algeria are subject to MFN duties unless imported under the TRQs in place for SMP, WMP and cheese. In a possible revision of the association agreements following the evaluation, already underway for Morocco and Tunisia in the DCFTA negotiations, the objective should be to remove all remaining tariffs and quotas on dairy products. Next to tariffs, we would like to highlight a number of non-tariff barriers affecting EU dairy exports.
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Meeting with Tom Tynan (Cabinet of Commissioner Phil Hogan)

29 Jun 2015 · exchange on the current market situation

Meeting with Tom Tynan (Cabinet of Commissioner Phil Hogan)

15 Jan 2015 · Agricultural market development. Market management