. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/EEC/246 
12 August 2004 
 (04-3409) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION  
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
 
If applicable, name of local government involved: 
2. Agency responsible:   Commission of the European Co mmunities.  Health & Consumer 
Protection Director ate-General Directorate E – Food Safe ty:  Plant Health, Animal Health 
and Welfare, International questions 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item numbe r(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where applicable):  Oils and fats, Liquid oils  and fats (CN heading 1500), foods for infants and 
young children (CN headings 1901, 2104 & 2104) , smoked and unsmoked fishery products 
(CN heading 0305), smoked meat pr oducts (CN headings 0209 & 0210). 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable:  
Member States of the Europ ean Communities (EC) and third countries exporting the products 
concerned to the EC.  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:   Draft Commission 
Regulation amending Commissi on Regulation (EC) No. 466/20 01 (Official Journal L77, 
16/03/2001;  pages 1-13) as regards polycyclic  aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in foods 
(SANCO/70/2003 rev.7;  5 pages). 
6. Description of content:  This proposal sets harmonized ma ximum Community levels for the 
PAH benzo(a)pyrene in food, summarised as follows: 
- Oils and fats 2.0 µg/kg 
- Foods for infants and young children 1.0 µg /kg 
- Smoked meat products 5.0 µg /kg 
- Smoked fishery products 5.0 µg /kg 
- Unsmoked fish 2.0 µg /kg 
- Unsmoked bivalve molluscs, cephalopods and crustaceans 5.0 µg /kg 
7. 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.   To facilitate trade (Some EC Me mber States have adopted maximum 
levels for PAH in foods creating disparities).  G/SPS/N/EEC/246 
Page 2  
 
 8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention, [ X ] None  
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:  The proposed Community measures respond to 
the advice of the EU Scientific Committee on Food (SCF, 2002) concluding that exposure to 
PAH should be as low as reasonably achievable. 
9. Relevant documents and language(s ) in which these are available:  European 
Commission Document SANCO/70/2003 rev.7 (avail able in all official EC languages).  
When adopted it will be published in  the Official Journal available at: 
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/index.html  
10. Proposed date of adoption:   Late 2004 (at this time it is not possible to estimate a more 
specific date) 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:   1 April 2005 
12. Final date for comments:  Forty five (45) days after the date of notification. 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [ X ] National notification 
authority, [   ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:    
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National notification authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: 
The opinion of the Scientific Committee for F ood on the risks to human health of polycyclic 
aromatic hydrocarbons in food (adopted on 4 December 2002;  84 pages) mentioned in 
paragraph 8 is available at: 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/food/chem icalsafety/contamin ants/index_en.htm