Mr President, as you know, the Commission’s proposal under discussion follows the report presented by the Commission in May 2004 and the subsequent call by the Council of 12 April 2005 for the Commission to come forward with a proposal to revalorise the minimum rates of excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages to compensate for inflation.

- "Fork to table, sea to plate ": Food, including sea products, health and well being: Consumer, societal, cultural, industrial and health aspects of food and feed, including behavioural and cognitive sciences; nutrition, diet-related diseases and disorders, such as obesity and allergies; health benefits of certain food and diets ; innovative food and feed processing technologies (including packaging); improved quality and safety, both chemical and biological , of food, beverage and feed; integrity, sustainability, risk assessment and control of the food chain; environmental impacts on and of terrestrial and aquatic food/feed chains; impact on and res ...[+++]istance of food chain to global changes; total food chain concept (including seafood); development of new traceability methods (for both GM and non-GM organisms); consequences of animal feeds and veterinary medicine for human health .

- "Fork to table, sea to plate ": Food, including sea products, health and well being: Consumer, societal, cultural, industrial and health aspects of food and feed, including behavioural and cognitive sciences; nutrition, diet-related diseases and disorders, such as obesity and allergies; health benefits of certain food and diets ; innovative food and feed processing technologies (including packaging); improved quality and safety, both chemical and biological , of food, beverage and feed; integrity, sustainability, risk assessment and control of the food chain; environmental impacts on and of terrestrial and aquatic food/feed chains; impact on and res ...[+++]istance of food chain to global changes; total food chain concept (including seafood); development of new traceability methods (for both GM and non-GM organisms); consequences of animal feeds and veterinary medicine for human health .

Taking account of the possible laxative potential, the Commission did not include the use of erythritol in beverages, but proposed to exempt erythritol from the labelling rule regarding the labelling of laxative effect in table-top sweeteners containing polyols.

Case C-309/02 concerns the Austrian undertakings Radlberger and Spitz, which export carbonated soft drinks, fruit juices, other non-carbonated drinks and table water to Germany in non-reusable packaging.

1. None of the processes referred to in points D and E, with the exception of the acidification and deacidification of wines, shall be authorised unless carried out, under conditions to be determined, at the time when the fresh grapes, grape must, grape must in fermentation or new wine still in fermentation are being turned into wine suitable for yielding table wine, into table wine, or into any other beverage intended for direct human consumption referred to in Article 1(2) other than sparkling wine or aerated sparkling wine in the wine-growing zone where the fresh grapes used were harvested.