Western Sahara EU Trade Rules Now Turn on One Label
WESTERN SAHARA · TRADE
Key Facts
- —The rulings On 4 October 2024 the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered two judgments touching the territory’s trade treatment.
- —The labelling rule One judgment held that produce from Western Sahara must indicate Western Sahara alone as the country of origin, at import and at consumer sale.
- —What the EU adopted Since 3 October 2025, movement certificates leave the country field blank and name a region in the remarks field instead.
- —The two regions The permitted entries are Dakhla Oued Ed-Dahab and Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra, depending on where the goods were harvested.
- —The scale Recitals to the 2025 decision record about €44.4 million in customs duty savings in 2022, on about €590 million of exports.
- —The objection The European Parliament tabled a motion objecting to the implementing regulation. Reporting says the rejection fell one vote short.
Two European court rulings forced the European Union to change how goods from Western Sahara enter its market. The answer it reached is a label, and that label is itself contested.
What the EU Notice Actually Requires
Anyone importing fruit or vegetables grown in Western Sahara into the European Union now follows a specific procedure. It is worth setting out plainly, before any of the argument around it.
The operative instrument is a decision of the EU-Morocco Association Council adopted on 3 October 2025 and applying from that date. On the EUR.1 movement certificate, the box for country of origin is left blank. The remarks box must instead carry one of two entries: Dakhla Oued Ed-Dahab, or Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra, according to where the goods were harvested. The same regional reference applies to origin declarations.
A Commission notice to operators published the same day extends the logic to consumer labelling. The rule covers fresh fruit and vegetables, certain dried fruits and ripened bananas. For those, the name of the harvest region replaces the usual country of origin indication, as stated on the accompanying certificate.
A delegated regulation adopted on 16 October 2025 wrote the derogation into the marketing standards rules. It was published in December 2025 and applies retroactively from 4 October 2025, the first anniversary of the judgments.
Member states have implemented it. Spain’s customs administration issued a notice in February 2026 requiring the regional reference in box 7, introducing two new tariff codes, and assigning the territory its own origin code.
The Two Rulings That Forced the Change
The European Union did not choose this arrangement freely. It was produced by litigation.
On 4 October 2024 the Court of Justice of the European Union, sitting as a Grand Chamber, delivered two judgments. In the first, it dismissed appeals by the Commission and the Council and upheld the annulment of the decision that had extended tariff preferences to the territory. The court held that the people of Western Sahara are a third party to the agreement, whose consent is required. It said consent may be presumed where an agreement creates no obligation for them and they derive a specific, tangible, substantial and verifiable benefit from the exploitation of natural resources. The effects of the annulled decision were maintained for a limited period.
The second judgment is the more operationally important one. Answering a reference from a French court, it held that a member state may not unilaterally ban imports whose labelling systematically fails to comply with EU origin rules. It also held that produce from Western Sahara must indicate Western Sahara alone as the country of origin, at import and at consumer sale. Its reason was that the territory of Western Sahara constitutes a territory distinct from that of the Kingdom of Morocco. Any other indication, the court said, would be deceptive.
That sentence is the centre of the dispute that followed.
Where the Gap Sits
The court said the label must read Western Sahara alone. The rules the European Union then adopted require two Moroccan regional names instead.
The Commission’s position was put at a parliamentary hearing. Regional labels, it argued, mean the territory is no longer identified as Morocco, and that is a considerable improvement in consumer information. That is the Commission’s characterisation.
The European Parliament did not accept it without challenge. A motion for a resolution objecting to the delegated regulation was tabled. Campaign group Western Sahara Resource Watch reports that parliament voted in November 2025 to reject the measure and fell one vote short. It quotes members from three political groups opposing the measure. That account is the group’s own, and the exact tally could not be independently confirmed.
Whether regional labelling satisfies the judgment is a live legal question that no authority has resolved. This article does not resolve it either. What can be stated as record is that the court used one form of words and the implementing rules use another.
What the Arrangement Is Said to Deliver
The recitals to the October 2025 Council decision set out what the European Union says the arrangement involves. They are worth reading as the institution’s own statement of the bargain.
They record that the prior arrangement produced about €44.4 million in customs duty savings in 2022, on about €590 million of exports. They state that Western Sahara constitutes a separate customs territory requiring distinct origin labelling. They require that fruit and vegetables carry a reference to the region of origin on certificates and on labelling.
They also set out commitments: on water, irrigation, energy, desertification and desalination; increased humanitarian aid to the Tindouf camps; and support for education and culture. And they provide for a regular monitoring mechanism, including a joint assessment mechanism.
A Commission report of March 2024 covered the earlier arrangement, in force since July 2019. It described implementation as smooth. It said the arrangement was delivering benefits for Western Sahara and its population in exports, economic activity and employment. That is the Commission’s assessment of its own arrangement.
What This Means If You Import or Export
For an importer, the compliance position is now specific and checkable. The certificate must carry the regional reference in the remarks field, the country field must be blank, and consumer labelling must name the region rather than a country. Customs administrations in member states have issued their own notices, and Spain’s is the clearest published example.
The practical risk is not tariff exposure. It is documentation. Goods arriving with a country of origin stated as Morocco, or with the region omitted, do not meet the published rules. A consignment held at the border over paperwork costs more than the duty ever did.
For an exporter, the operative question is which region the goods were harvested in, because that determines the entry. The two permitted references are geographic, not commercial, and they must match the certificate of origin.
For anyone assessing the legal durability of the arrangement, the honest answer is that it is contested. It was adopted after litigation, its labelling formula differs from the court’s wording, and the European Parliament came close to rejecting the implementing measure. Businesses building long positions on the current rules should assume further litigation is possible.
Nothing in this changes the underlying political dispute over the territory, and nothing here should be read as taking a position on it. The rules described are what the published instruments say.
How the Rules Got Here
The trade relationship has been litigated for a decade, and the current rules are the latest layer rather than the first.
An amendment extending Association Agreement tariff preferences to products originating in Western Sahara entered into force on 19 July 2019. That amendment was the decision annulled in the 2024 judgment, with its effects preserved temporarily so that trade did not stop overnight.
Before that, the Commission had issued brief guidance in March 2017 on the customs implications of an earlier court judgment. Campaigners record that it contained no practical advice on distinguishing goods originating in Western Sahara from goods originating in Morocco. It directed customs officers with reasonable doubt to seek verification from Moroccan authorities.
Set against that, the 2025 framework is a substantive change. For the first time the paperwork distinguishes the territory in a way a customs officer can apply, and a consumer can read. Whether it distinguishes it in the way the court required is the question that remains open.
What Is Not Known
Whether regional labelling satisfies the judgment’s requirement that the label name Western Sahara alone has not been determined by any court.
The exact European Parliament vote tally in November 2025 could not be verified independently. The one-vote characterisation comes from a campaign group.
Trade values under the arrangement in force since October 2025 are not yet available. No EU statistical series covering the new regime was located.
The full operative text of the exchange of letters between the European Union and Morocco was published separately. This account rests on the recitals of the Council decision rather than on that text.
And whether further legal challenges will be brought, and on what grounds, is not knowable from the published record.
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Sources
- EUR-Lex — Court of Justice, Case C-399/22, judgment of 4 October 2024
- EUR-Lex — Decision No 2/2025 of the EU-Morocco Association Council, 3 October 2025
- EUR-Lex — Commission notice to operators on origin labelling, October 2025
- EUR-Lex — Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/2652
Frequently Asked Questions
How must goods from Western Sahara be labelled for the EU?
Since 3 October 2025 the country of origin field on the EUR.1 certificate is left blank, and the remarks field must name either Dakhla Oued Ed-Dahab or Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra. Consumer labelling for covered produce names the region rather than a country.
What did the court actually rule?
In a judgment of 4 October 2024 the Court of Justice held that produce from Western Sahara must indicate Western Sahara alone as the country of origin, because the territory is distinct from Morocco, and that any other indication would be deceptive. A second judgment the same day upheld the annulment of the decision extending tariff preferences.
Is the current arrangement settled?
No. The implementing rules use regional names rather than the wording the court used, the European Parliament tabled an objection to the delegated regulation, and no court has ruled on whether the regional formula satisfies the judgment.
How large is the trade?
Recitals to the October 2025 Council decision record about €44.4 million in customs duty savings in 2022 on about €590 million of exports. Trade values under the new regime are not yet published.
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