Shaheed El Hafed, 30 January 2026 (SPS) – The Sahrawi Observatory for Monitoring Natural Resources and Environmental Protection (SONREP) has called on the European Union to reverse its decision to abolish the mandatory declaration of origin for products coming from the occupied Western Sahara, considering the move a violation of the rulings of the European Court of Justice.
The Observatory stressed the need to respect the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and to freely dispose of their natural resources through their legitimate representative, the Polisario Front.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Observatory expressed its “deep concern” over the EU decision to remove the requirement for clear labeling of products originating from the occupied Western Sahara, which effectively allows “these products to be marketed within the European Union as being of Moroccan origin.”
It called on the European Union and its member states to “reconsider and reverse the decision.”
The Observatory stressed that the decision represents “a dangerous regression in the level of transparency and legal certainty in the European Union’s trade policy,” noting that it “constitutes a clear contradiction with the principles of international law and with the EU’s own judicial framework.”
It added that “abolishing the mandatory declaration of origin means that the European Union is, in practice, concealing the true territorial origin of goods produced in Western Sahara,” a non-self-governing territory under Moroccan occupation, which facilitates their marketing without the consent of the Sahrawi people.
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