What is happening
The European Commission has asked the Council of the EU to approve a Union position supporting two revisions before the International Olive Council (IOC). One covers the glass used to taste oil; the other covers guidance for installing a taste room. This remains a proposal for an EU decision and does not itself adopt either IOC text.21
The organoleptic assessmentThe virgin-olive-oil tasting method addressed by the two planned revisions, which concern the glass used for tasting and guidance on installing a taste room. at issue is the virgin-olive-oil tasting method covered by those documents. The IOC secretariat presented both revised texts to members in November 2025. The Commission says scientific and technical olive-oil experts from the Commission and EU countries discussed them. It argues that the revisions would help harmonise international standards and create a framework intended to ensure fair competition in olive-oil trade.2
Why it matters
The EU is a party to the international olive-oil agreement and sits in the IOC’s Council of MembersThe International Olive Council’s highest authority and decision-making body, in which the EU is represented as a member., its highest decision-making body. The IOC currently has 21 members, while the EU holds 647 of the total 1,000 participation shares used in its decision rule. Decisions are normally taken by consensus. If consensus fails, trade-standard or method decisions are adopted unless at least one quarter of members, or members holding at least 100 shares, reject them.2
According to the Commission’s legal assessment, the planned IOC decisions would be binding under the agreement and could decisively influence EU legislation. EU olive-oil marketing standards must take account of recommendations from international bodies, and the Commission identifies existing EU rules on conformity checksChecks of compliance with olive-oil marketing standards. The Commission identifies EU implementing rules covering these checks and methods for analysing olive-oil characteristics. and analysis methods as the rules affected. The proposed Council decision would set the EU’s position rather than directly rewrite those checks.2
What happens next
The draft targeted the IOC’s 123rd session in June 2026. If adoption were postponed, the proposed EU position could instead be used in an exchange of correspondence before the 124th regular session. Under the draft, EU representatives could accept related technical adaptations without another Council decision when those adaptations result from the two revisions. They would request postponement if new scientific or technical information could affect the EU position.2
The available official record does not establish the detailed changes to the glass or room specifications; it says the revised texts appear in an accompanying Commission staff document.2