Sweet victory for British chocolate in EU dispute

Spain and Italy were told yesterday that they cannot label some of Britain's best-known confectionery bars "chocolate substitute" when a 30-year wrangle ended in victory for the UK.

The Spanish and Italian governments were found guilty by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg of breaching EU trade laws by restricting the marketing of British chocolate.

In taste tests in France and Belgium, British chocolate bars have sometimes won when pitted against brands manufactured abroad. But, with up to 5 per cent vegetable fat content instead of the pure cocoa butter common elsewhere in the EU, British chocolate has long been derided on the Continent.

The dispute dates from Britain's accession to the EEC in 1973. Spain and Italy had been defying an agreement in 2000 that a small amount of vegetable fat was acceptable.