. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/EEC/94/Rev.1
23 July 2002
(02-4071)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION
Revision
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
If applicable, name of local government involved:
2. Agency responsible:  European Commission, Directorate-General Health and Consumer
Protection
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where
applicable):  Food of animal origin (fresh meat -including poultry and game meat, live
bivalve molluscs, fishery products and milk and milk products). ICS numbers:  65.145,
65.150, 67.050, 67.100 and 67.120
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:  EC
Member States and countries exporting the above mentioned products to the European
Communities
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:   COM(2002)377 of
11 July 2002 "Proposal (presented by the Commission) for a Regulation of the European
Parliament and of the Council laying down specific rules for the organisation of official
controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption" (65 pages)
6. Description of content:  On 14 July 2000, the Commission adopted a package of
5 proposals that constitute a recast of existing Community legislation on food hygiene.
These 5 proposals were notified to the WTO on 18 September 2000 (G/SPS/N/EEC/94).
One of these i.e . "Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the
Council laying down detailed rules for the organisation of official controls on products of
animal origin intended for human consumption [2000/180 (COD)] " was withdrawn by the
Commission on 11 December 2001.  The reason for this was that it had to be reviewed to
bring it into line with recent scientific deve lopments, to re-enforce the "stable-to-table"
approach and to make it consistent with other more recent proposals of the Commission.
The present proposal (see box 5) is the revised version of document 2000/180 (COD)
notified in G/SPS/N/EEC/94 (18 September 2000).  It establishes how official controls onproducts of animal origin are to be performed, focussing especially on fresh meat
(including poultry and game meat), live bivalve molluscs, fishery products and milk and
milk products.  Compared to the current situation, the official controls become more risk-
and science based.  As regards the meat sector, the official authorities move towards an
audit-approach, maintaining however the system of official meat inspection.
7. Objective and rationale:  [  X ] food safety, [ X ] animal health, [   ] plant protection,
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or  disease,  [   ]  protect territory from
other damage from pestsG/SPS/N/EEC/94/Rev.1
Page 2
8. International standard, gu ideline or recommendation:
[ X ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [   ] Office International des Epizooties,
[   ] International Plant Prot ection Convention, [   ] None
If an international standard , guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:
This proposal would bring Community legislation into line with recommendations made by
the Codex Alimentarius  Committee on Food Hygiene [ CCFH/CX-712], and  especially
with the recommended Code of  Practice/General principles of food hygiene and the
Specific Codes of Hygienic Practice.
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  European
Commission Document COM(2002)377 (Available in all official EC languages)
10. Proposed date of adoption:  Probable date of adoption is by July 2003 although variations
may be expected pending on Parliament and Council procedures, as well as comments to
this notification.
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  One year after adoption
12. Final date for comments:  31 October 2002
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [   ] National notification
authority, [ X ] EC enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if
available) of other body:
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National notification authority,  [ X ]  EC enquiry point,  or
address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:
Document COM(2002)377 is available from Eur LEX http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/ .  In
English  http://www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/pdf/2002/com2002_0377en01.pdf
French: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/fr/com/pdf/2002/com2002_0377fr01.pdf
Spanish: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/es/com/pdf/2002/com2002_0377es01.pdf