. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/TBT/Notif.00/289
20 June 2000
(00-2463)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade
NOTIFICATION
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6.
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):           
2. Agency responsible:   European Commission
Agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification shall be
indicated if different from above:           
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [     ], 2.10.1 [    ], 5.6.2 [    ], 5.7.1 [    ], other:           
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):
Beef (CN Codes 0201, 0202, 0206 10 95 and 0206 29 91)
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   European
Commission Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation Establishing a
System for the Identification and Registration of Bovine Animals and Regarding the
Labelling of Beef and Beef Products and Repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97
(as amended)
6. Description of content:   Introduces a compulsory system for labelling Member State or
third country of origin, which is obligatory in all Member States, in two separate steps and
retains the voluntary system, as laid down in Regulation (EC) No 820/97, for all indicationsother than those covered by the compulsory system.
From 1 September 2000, operators and organisations marketing beef shall indicate on the
label:
- a reference number or reference code ensuring the link between the meat and the
animal or animals,
- the approval number and Member State or  third country of the slaughterhouse at
which the animal or group of animals was slaughtered,
- the approval number of the de-boning hall and Member State or third country at
which the carcass or group of carcasses were de-boned and
- the category of animal or animals from which the beef was derived.
In the second step of compulsory labelling, from 1 January 2002, operators andorganisations marketing beef shall, in addition, indicate on the label information concerning
origin, in particular the Member State or third country where the animal or animals from
which the beef was derived were born and reared.
By way of derogation from these provisions, beef imported into the Community, for whichall the information provided for in the compulsory system is not available, shall be labelledwith the indication:G/TBT/Notif.00/289
Page 2
- "Origin: Non-EC" and "Slaughtered in: [name of third country]".
In the second step of compulsory labelling, from 1 January 2002, operators and
organisations marketing beef shall, in addition, indicate on the label information concerning
origin, in particular the Member State or third country where the animal or animals from
which the beef was derived were born and reared.
By way of derogation from these provisions, beef imported into the Community, for which
all the information provided for in the compulsory system is not available, shall be labelled
with the indication:
- "Origin: Non-EC" and "Slaughtered in: [name of third country]".Furthermore, for labels containing indications other than those provided for in the
compulsory system, each operator or organisation shall submit a specification forinformation to the competent authority of each Member State or third country in which
production or sale of the beef in question takes place. Operators shall be entitled to label
beef on a voluntary basis only if, in addition to observing the requirements set out in the
voluntary labelling system, they have obtaine d approval of their specifications by the
competent authority designated for that purpose by each third country concerned.
The validity within the Community of any approval granted by a third country shall be
subject to prior notification by the third country to the Commission of:
- the competent authority which has been designated,
- the procedures and criteria to be followed by the competent authority when -
examining the specification,
- each operator and organisation to which the competent authority has granted
approval of their specification.
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:
To establish a compulsory labelling system in the beef sector based on objective criteria of
the origin of the beef and to continue the voluntary labelling arrangements for labelscontaining indications other than those provided for in the compulsory system.
8. Relevant documents:   European Commission proposal for a European Parliament and
Council Regulation establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine
animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products and repealing Council
Regulation (EC) No 820/97 [COM(1999) 487 final, as amended]
9. Proposed date of adoption:  31 July 2000
Proposed date of entry into force:  1 September 2000
10. Final date for comments:   1 September 2000
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [     ] or address, e-mail and telefax
number of the other body:
EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Mr. P. De Winne,
DG Agriculture, D.2.
Fax: +32.2.296.60.27
E-mail:  Prosper.De-Winne@cec.eu.int