. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/EEC/94
18 September 2000
(00-3679)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
If applicable, name of local government involved:           
2. Agency responsible:  European Commission, General Directorate for Health and Consumer
Protection, SANCO
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).  Food  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.
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  COM(2000) 438 final,
14 July 2000 (167 pages)
5. Description of content:
1. Proposal 2000/0178 COD (presented by the Commission) for a Regulation of the 
European Parliament and of the Council on the hygiene of foodstuffs.
2. Proposal 2000/0179 (COD) (presented by the Commission) for a Regulation of the
European Parliament and of the Council laying down specific hygiene rules forfood of animal origin.
3. Proposal 2000/0180 (COD) (presented by the Commission) 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.
4. Proposal 2000/0181 (CNS) (presented by the Commission) for a Council
Regulation laying down the animal-health rules governing the production, placingon the market and importation of products of animal origin intended for human
consumption.
5. Proposal 2000/0182 (COD) (presented by the Commission) for a Directive of the
European Parliament and of the Council repealing certain directives on the hygiene
of foodstuffs and the health conditions for the production and placing on the marketof certain products of animal origin intended for human consumption, and
amending Directives 89 /662/EEC and 91/67/EEC.
These proposals result from a recast of Community legislation on:
• food hygiene as contained in Council Directive 93/43/EEC on the hygiene of
foodstuffs and in a number of Council Directives on public health problems and
governing the production and placing on the market of products of animal origin;
• animal health aspects related to the placing on the market of products of animal
origin, as contained in a number of Council Directives that partially overlap with
the food hygiene Directives;
• official controls on products of animal origin contained in the above product-
specific Directives.G/SPS/N/EEC/94
Page 2
These rules developed since 1964 in response to the needs of the internal market, taking into
account a high level of protection, leading a multiplicity of directives (17) intermingling
different disciplines (i.e. hygiene, animal health, official controls) and different hygiene
regimes for products of animal origin.
The proposals under COM(2000)438 aims to improve the situation by recasting legal
requirements and separating aspects of food hygiene  from animal health  and official control
issues.The general aim is that food operators bear full responsibility by implementing hazard
analysis and control principles (HACCP) that is in line with the Codex Alimentarius .
Approach and the hygiene rules are to be applied from primary production to delivery to the
final consumer. A separate text defines the duties of the Competent Control Authorities
which are specific to the type of product and will apply in addition to the rules to beproposed under point 4 above. As products of  animal origin may carry pathogens (swine
fever, foot-and-mouth disease, etc.) that may cause serious economic losses and restrictions
on the affected farms, a recast is made of the veterinary rules in order to better identify these
problems and define the measures required to prevent the spread of animal diseases through
products of animal origin. These measures are the subject of a separate proposal.
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. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [    ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations: These proposals aims  to bring Community
legislation it in line with
• Codex Alimentarius  principles on food hygiene, (in special Codex Alimentarius
recommended  Code of Practice/general principles of food hygiene; Codex
Alimentarius  Specific  Codes of Hygienic Practice); and
• OIE animal health code.
8. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  European
Commission Document COM(2000)438 (Available in all official EC languages)
9. Proposed date of adoption:  Probable date of adoption is by July 2002 although variations
may be expected pending on Parliament and Council procedures, as well as comments to
this notification.
10. Proposed date of entry into force:  1 January 2004
11. Final date for comments:  30 November 2000
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:           
12. Texts available from: [     ] National notification authority, [  X ] EC enquiry point or
address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:  COM(2000)438
is available also from Eur LEX http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/ .  On that page,
• select " Community preparatory acts "
• select the desired language, and
• search the COM number (i.e. 438)
The English text is http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/pdf/2000/com2000_0438en01.pdf