Chiara Ortolani, an Erasumus scholar from the University of Bologna who is currently visiting London law firm Olswang, has kindly written this note on the names and labelling of mineral waters in the European Union. She writes:

"The European market for mineral waters has increased by 103% in the past 20 years. Given that healthy, environmental and economic concerns are involved in this sector, the necessity for an European legal framework providing common definitions and rules about the activities of exploitation, labelling and trading of mineral waters is generally recognized. European standards should ensure the quality of mineral water for human consumption, providing transparency and competition. The are the main objectives of the following four European Directives:

• Directive 80/777/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the exploitation and marketing of mineral waters;

• Directive 96/70/EC amending Directive 80/777/EC;

• Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption;

• Directive 2003/40/EC establishing the list, concentration limits and labelling requirements for the constituent of natural mineral waters and the conditions for using ozone-enriched air for the treatment of natural mineral waters and spring waters.

Focusing our attention on the trade description of mineral waters, it is clear that the information given to consumers about the source, the place of exploitation and the microbiological and chemical constituents of the water as well as the name chosen as a trade mark are to be provided by specific rules. In fact Article 8 of Directive 80/777 stipulates that:

• The name of a locality, hamlet or place may occur in the wording of a trade description, provided that it refers to a natural mineral water the spring of which is exploited at the place indicated by that description and provided that is not misleading as regards the place of exploitation in the spring.

• It shall be forbidden to market natural mineral water form one and the same spring under more than one trade description.

• When labels or inscriptions on the containers in which the natural mineral waters are offered for sale include a trade description different to the name of the spring or the place of its exploitation, this place or the name of the spring shall be indicated in letters at least one and a half times the height and width of the largest of the letters used for that trade description.

Strangely, Directive 98/83 provides under Article 16(1) that the Directive 777/80 is repealed and that any reference to the Directive thus repealed shall be construed as a reference to Directive 98/83, while affirming under Recital 10 that it is necessary to exclude natural mineral waters  from the scope of the Directive, since special rules have been established for those kinds of waters. Should we consider still in force the rules of Directive 777/90 which provide for natural mineral waters, given that those waters do not fall in the field of application of the Directive 98/83, or should we consider them repealed? And the second question which arises is this: if we consider Article 8 of Directive 80/777 repealed, which rules are to be applied to the trade description of mineral waters?".