Jury out on chocolate law

British chocolate manufacturers and their packaging design groups will have to wait for a decision on whether they can call their product chocolate.

No agreement was reached on a proposal for a new Chocolate Directive, which would allow all the different chocolate-making traditions in the EU to co-exist. Industry insiders had expected a compromise to be agreed.

But the commission would not support the proposed procedure for future legislation changes, making it impossible to agree on a common position.

It has been reported that UK manufacturers were willing to use separate packaging for local and exported chocolate.