Denmark falls foul of EU rules in fight over feta exports

Denmark broke European Union rules by letting local dairy producers market and export a white, crumbly cheese as “Feta” outside the region, the EU’s top court said. 

The European Commission, backed by Greece and Cyprus, sued Denmark in 2019 for failing to prevent or stop the “direct breach” of the EU protection the name enjoys. Greece claims it has been making Feta since ancient times and in 2002 was awarded protected status so that only cheese made in the Mediterranean nation can be sold as such.  

Denmark argued that the Feta appellation only applied to products sold in the European Union, not third countries. But it’s also obliged under EU rules to monitor the illegal use of the protected name Feta and that this obligation also extends to products destined for exports outside the EU. 

Denmark “therefore does not deny that it has neither prevented nor stopped producers in its territory from using the name ‘Feta’ if their products are intended for export to third countries,” the EU Court of Justice said in a binding ruling in Luxembourg on Thursday. 

It’s not the first case of it’s kind. Spanish producers of Manchego cheese won a challenge at the EU’s top courts in 2019 to stop rivals labeling and naming their products to look like the cheese made in the country’s La Mancha region. EU judges also weighed in on a dispute between Italy and German producers who wanted to sell their own versions of Italy’s famous ‘Parmigiano Reggiano’ as Parmesan cheese, but were told only Italians can do so. 

The law was made to give cheese eaters guarantees of quality, the origin of the dairy product, and the process used for making it. The rule has irritated some dairy producers in countries including the US and Australia, looking to cash in on the cachet of some cheese names.