. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/EEC/108
18 December 2000
(00-5516)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEASURES
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
If applicable, name of local government involved:           
2. Agency responsible:  Health & Consumer Protection Directorate General
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where
applicable).  Processed animal proteins such as  meat-and-bone meal, meat meal, bone
meal, blood meal, dried plasma and other blood products, hydrolysed proteins, hoof meal,
horn meal, poultry offal meal, feather meal , dry greaves, fishmeal, dicalcium phosphate,
gelatine and any other similar products including mixtures, feedingstuffs, feed additives and
premixtures, containing these products.  Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the
extent relevant or practicable:  EC member States and countries trading with the European
Communities
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Council Decision 2000/766 of
4 December 2000 concerning certain protection measures with regard to transmissiblespongiform encephalopathies and the feeding of animal protein (Official Journal of the
European Communities, Number L306 of 7 December 2000, pages 32-33)
5. Description of content:  This Decision establishes, as a precautionary measure, a
temporary prohibition (1 January 2001-30 June 2001) of the feeding to farmed animals
(which are kept, fattened or bred for the production of food), placing on the market, trade,
imports from third countries, and exportation to third countries of the products indicated in
paragraph 3 above, with the exception of (i) fishmeal fed to animals other than ruminants,(ii) gelatine of non-ruminants origin for co ating feedingstuffs additives (iii) dicalcium
phosphate and hydrolysed proteins obtained in accordance with certain conditions and (iv)
milk and milk products. During this period, all processed animal proteins will be withdrawn
from the market, distribution channels and from on-farm storage and all animal waste will
be collected, transported, processed, stored and disposed of in a safe manner. Processedanimal protein may be used in feed for pets, fur animals and other non-food species.
6. 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 pests           
7. Nature of the urgent problem(s):  EC inspections have identified failures in the
implementation of feedingstuffs rules in several member States, and certain member States,
next to the discovering of deficiencies of similar nature have adopted safeguard measures in
line with the recommendation of the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) that " where the
risk of cross-contamination of cattle feed w ith feed destined to other animals cannot be
excluded, a temporary ban of animal proteins in animal feed should be considered" .G/SPS/N/EEC/108
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8. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [  X ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give its appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:           
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Council Decision
2000/766 of 4 December 2000 concerning certain protection measures with regard to
transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and th e feeding of animal protein (O.J. No L306
7 December 2000, pages 32-33,  Available in all EC languages).  Opinion of the Scientific
Steering Committee, adopted at its meeting of 27-28 November 2000, on (1) the scientific
basis for import bans proposed by three member States with regard to BSE risks in France
and the Republic of Ireland;  (2) the scientific basis for several measures proposed by
France with regard to BSE risks;  and (3) the scientific basis for banning animal protein
from the feed for all farmed animals, includin g pig, poultry, fish and pet animals (Available
in English).
10. Date of entry into force/period of application (as applicable):  1 January 2001
11. Texts available from/and agency or authority designated to handle comments:
[    ] National notification authority, [  X ] National enquiry point or address, fax
number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:  The Official Journal is available
at :  http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/index.html  . The scientific Opinion is available at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out150_en.pdf