WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.321
3July1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-2790)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: European Commission
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbe
indicated ifdifferent from above:
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Beef(CNCodes 0201,
0202, 0206 1095and0206 2991)
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Council Regulation
(EC) No.820/97 of21April 1997 Establishing aSystem fortheIdentification and
Registration ofBovine Animals andRegarding theLabelling ofBeefandBeefProducts
(8pages)
6. Description ofcontent: Introduces avoluntary labelling scheme forbeef. Before
1January 2000, thelabelling system shall beoptional: operators andorganizations
wishing tolabel theirbeefshalldosoinaccordance withthepresent Regulation. The
labelling arrangements ofoperators ororganizations shall beaccepted once a
specification hasbeensubmitted to,andapproved by,thecompetent authority.
Where theproduction ofbeeftakes place, infullorinpart, inathird country,
operators andorganizations shall beentitled tolabel beefaccording tothisRegulation
onlyif,inaddition toobserving therequirements setoutinArticle 14oftheRegulation
forbeefproduced intheEC,theyhaveobtained approval oftheirspecifications bythe
competent authority designated forthatpurpose byeachthirdcountry concerned.
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6. Description ofcontent (cont'd):
Thevalidity within theCommunity ofanyapproval granted byathird country
shallbesubjected toprior notification bythethirdcountry totheCommission of:
- Thecompetent authority which hasbeendesigned;
- theprocedures andcriteria tobefollowed bythecompetent authority
when examining thespecification;
- each operator andorganization towhich thecompetent authority has
granted approval oftheirspecification.
Where, onthebasis oftheabove notifications, theCommission reaches the
conclusion thattheprocedures and/or criteria applied inathird country arenot
equivalent tothestandards setoutinthisRegulation, theCommission shall, after
consultation withthethirdcountry concerned, decide thatapprovals granted bythethird
country shallnotbevalid within theCommunity.
TheRegulation willenter intoforce on1July1997. Beef labelled under
existing arrangements may besold without changing theexisting label until
1January 1998.
Acompulsory labelling system inaccordance withtheCommunity 'sinternational
commitments willbeintroduced from 1January 2000.
7. Objective andrationale: Toestablish alabelling system inthebeefsector based on
objective criteria atthemarketing stage.
8. Relevant documents: Council Regulation (EC) No.820/97 of21April 1997 establishing
asystem fortheidentification andregistration ofbovine animals andregarding the
labelling ofbeef andbeef products (8pages). Official Journal oftheEuropean
Communities, L117 of7May1997, p.1.
9. Proposed dateofadoption: 21April 1997
Proposed date ofentry intoforce: 1July 1997. Beef labelled under existing
arrangements maybesoldwithout changing theexisting labeluntil1January 1998.
10. Final dateforcomments: 1September 1997
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: