. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/EEC/146
4 December 2001
(01-6176)
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:  European Commission, Directorate-General for Health and
Consumer Protection
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).  Feedingstuff additives belonging to the group of coccidiostatic agents and
other medicinal substances  Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent
relevant or practicable:  EC member States and third countries exporting the product
concerned to the European Communities
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Draft Commission Regulation
amending Council Directive 70/524/EEC concerning additives in feedingstuffs as regards
withdrawal of the authorization of an additive (2 pages)
5. Description of content:  The feed additive Nifursol, belonging to the group of
"coccidiostats and other medicinal substances", has been authorized at Community level for
the 1st time in 1988 for use in turkeys.  This additive has been linked to a person responsible
for putting it into circulation for a period of 10 years by Commission Regulation (EC)
No 2430/1999. On 11 October 2001, the Scientific Committee on Animal Nutrition adopted
an opinion concluding that "as both the ADI and the human exposure to Nifursol residues
(including metabolites) cannot be established, the safety of Nifursol for the human
consumer cannot be ensured" .  The draft Commission Regulation withdraws the
authorization of Nifursol on the basis of Arti cle 9 of Council Directive 70/524/EEC, which
provides for the withdrawal of the authorization of an additive in particular if it represents a
risk for human or animal health or the environment.
6. Objective and rationale:  [  X ] food safety,  [     ] animal health,  [     ] plant protection,
[    ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [     ] protect territory from
other damage from pests           
7. Nature of the urgent problem(s):  Safety reason: it can not be guaranteed that Nifursol
does not present a risk for human health, which consequently requires an immediate
withdrawal of the authorization of this feed additive.
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:           G/SPS/N/EEC/146
Page 2
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  European
Commission Document SANCO/4226 /01 (Available in all official EC languages, to be
published in the Official Journal of the EC, L Series)
10. Date of entry into force/period of application (as applicable):  Immediate entry into
force on the day of the publication of the Regulation in the Official Journal of the European
Communities (adoption of the Regulation by the Commission foreseen for mid-
December 2001)
11. Texts available from/and 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: