Jakub Latała – The dispute over pasta between Lidl Italia and the Italian authorities

CJEU Judgment – Conflict in the Application of Food Information Regulations and Unfair Commercial Practices (Market) Regulations. The ruling was issued in the context of a dispute over pasta between Lidl Italia and the Italian Competition and Consumer Protection Authority (AGCM).

April 30, 2026 The CJEU issued a judgment in Case C-301/25, in which it ruled on the relationship between Regulation No. 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers and Directive 2005/29 concerning unfair commercial practices used by businesses toward consumers in the internal market.

The main proceedings before the Italian equivalent of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) concerned labeling on packages of durum wheat semolina pasta that emphasized the product’s Italian origin and indicated that the wheat was milled in Italy, even though the wheat used to produce this semolina did not originate in Italy. The AGCM found that such labeling could give consumers the impression that the raw materials used to produce the pasta were also of Italian origin and imposed an administrative fine of EUR 1 million on Lidl.

The appellate court hearing the case referred questions for a preliminary ruling regarding the legal basis for penalizing the company. The CJEU held that the liability regimes under Regulation 1169/2011 and Directive 2005/29 are not mutually exclusive but are complementary and may be applied in parallel.

Food business operators must therefore take into account not only the assessment of packaging compliance with sector-specific regulations but also, at the same time, scrutiny regarding the misleading of consumers, particularly in situations where labeling on food product packaging creates a misleading impression regarding their origin.