Court decision does not affect halloumi PDO, says ministry

An administrative court decision on Monday to uphold the objections raised in 2014 against the procedures for preparing Cyprus’ application to the EU to register Halloumi registration  does not affect its registration, the agriculture ministry has said.

After the decision was announced there were claims it would affect the halloumi PDO which the EU registered in April.

The court appeal was filed by the cow farmers’ and cheesemakers’ associations after the agriculture ministry had rejected their objections in 2014 to the halloumi specification file the national committee was preparing to have the cheese registered as PDO by the EU.

Cyprus officially filed its application to the European Commission for the registration of the names halloumi/hellim as a PDO for cheese made predominantly from sheep and/or goat milk in July 2014.

According to the agriculture ministry, the administrative acts challenged by these court appeals have been annulled due to a formality, namely the absence of a member when the advisory committee had examined the objections in 2014.

This formality, it said, concerns only the national procedure, which according to a previous decision by the same administrative court, is an autonomous and distinct procedure separate from the one concerning the European Commission and the Commission Implementing Regulation of April 12, 2021 with which halloumi/hellim was officially registered as PDO.

The ministry said, that, based on the existing legislation, it will take all the necessary actions to correct this formality and re-issue the administrative acts. It added it is in consultations with the state legal services.

After the EU announced it would register halloumi as PDO cheesemakers and milk producers, expressed their concerns over their ability to produce halloumi with the strict guidelines on what constitutes the cheese from now on.

A major issue is the stipulation that most of the milk used in production – at least 51 per cent – must be from goats and/or sheep milk and there are concerns about being able to produce enough quantities. Cow milk producers, on the other hand, are concerned that there will be surplus cow’s milk on the market.