The European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/36/EC is an

EU Directive The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

relating to

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

and chocolate products. Most notably, this directive allows chocolate to contain up to 5% non-cocoa vegetable fats. The

Belgian Ministry of Economic Affairs The FPS Economy, SMEs, Middle Classes, and Energy ( nl, FOD Economie, KMO, Middenstand en Energie , french: SPF Économie, PME, Classes moyennes et Énergie, german: FÖD Wirtschaft, KMU, Mittelstand und Energie), more commonly known as the FPS Eco ...

has attempted to resist the effects of this directive by introducing the

AMBAO AMBAO is a certification mark for chocolate created by the Belgian Ministry of Economic Affairs. The mark certifies that the product has been made without any other vegetable fats other than cocoa fats, or any artificial additives. The AMBAO scheme ...

certification scheme, which certified that chocolate carrying the AMBAO mark was produced without vegetable fat substitution.

References

External links

* Chocolate European Union directives European Union food law {{food-stub