Italy ordered to bin 'pure' chocolate labelling

Italy faces a heavy fine after Europe's highest court ordered it to stop distinguishing between "pure" and substitute chocolate in what Brussels admits is a clash of cultures.

A decade-old row, following a change in European Union law to remove marketing distinctions between chocolate made with only cocoa butter and confections using other vegetable fats, has put the Italian parliament on a collision course with the EU executive.

In Italy, lawmakers have refused to adopt the EU directive, in contravention of laws governing the single European market, leading to Thursday's judgment at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Italian "pure chocolate" labelling runs "contrary to the system of denominations for products sold under Union law," the court said, saying any distinction for consumers had to be "neutral and objective."

A spokesman for the European Commission, which polices the single market, acknowledged there are "different cultures" within the EU on a question that had long been "delicate," but reiterated that Rome must comply.

The EU summarised the law on its website specifying that chocolate "may contain up to five percent vegetable fat other than cocoa butter," such as illepe, palm oil, sal, shea, kokum gurgi, mango kernels or copra oil.