. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/EEC/118
3 April 2001
(01-1662)
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
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).  Products of animal origin derived from or containing material of the bovine,
ovine or caprine animal species   Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent
relevant or practicable:  All countries trading the products indicated above with the
European Communities
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Draft Commission Decision
amending Decision 2000/418/EC as regards imports from third countries
(SANCO/956/2001-Rev. 7) (6 pages)
5. Description of content:
1. Commission Decision 418/2000 (notified as  G/SPS/N/EEC/49/Add.1) requires the
removal and destruction of specified risk materials (SRMs) from cattle, sheep and goatswith effect from 1 October 2000, and that also provides, with effect from 1 April 2001, the
following measures for imports from third countries:
• A ban on imports of SRMs;
• A requirement that imports of meat, meat products, minced beef and meat
preparations should be accompanied by certification that they do not
contain SRMs or mechanically recovered meat and are not derived from
animals which have been slaughtered through gas stunning or "pithing".
2. Commission recommendation 98/477 invited third countries (and member States) to
submit a complete dossier on their epidemiological status with respect to TransmissibleSpongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs).
3. On the basis of these dossiers, the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) has adopted
opinions which place 10 countries (Australia, Argentina, Botswana, Chile, Namibia, New
Zealand, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, Swazila nd) in category I ("BSE highly unlikely")
of its Geographical BSE Risk assessment (GBR).
4. This proposal excludes these countries from the requirements of Commission
Decision 418/2000.
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           G/SPS/N/EEC/118
Page 2
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:  This decision conforms Article 2.3.13.1 of the
International Animal Health Code "determination of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE) status of a country or zone".  It is to notice that FAO supports this action (See FAO
Press Release 01/03 of 26 January) .
8. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  European
Commission Document SANC O/956/2001-Rev.7  (Available in all EC languages)
9. Proposed date of adoption:  End of March
10. Proposed date of entry into force:  Commission Decision 2000/418/EC (notified as
G/SPS/N/EEC/49/Add.1) already announced that this decision was to enter into force by31 March 2001.
11. Final date for comments:  The Commission reiterates its invitation to third countries to
submit a complete dossier on their epidemiolo gical status with respect to TSEs.  This
dossier is to be made according to the Scientific Steering Committee recommendation (see
under box 12 of this notification) and may be submitted at any time. It will serve as a basis
for the assessment of their epidemiological status.
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:  Further to
document SANCO/956/2001-Rev.7 the following documents (and Webb sites) are of
relevance to this decision.
Decision 2000/418/EEC, amended by this proposal, http://europa.eu.int/eur-
lex/en/lif/dat/2000/en_300D0418.html
Decision 20001/0002/EEC (Removal of the vertebral column)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/bse/bse23_en.pdf
Method for assessing the Geographical BSE-Risk (GBR) of a country or region http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out68_en.pdf
Opinion of the Scientific Steering Committees on the Geographical Risk of BovineSpongiform Encephalopathy, GBR (6 July 2000)http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out113_en.pdf
Opinion of the Scientific Steering Committee on the safety with regard to BSE of certainbovine tissues and certain animal-derived products (12 January 2001)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out157_en.pdf
Opinion of the Scientific Steering Committees on pre-emptive risk assessment should BSE
in small ruminants be found under domestic conditions (8-9 February 2001)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out170_en.pdf
The results of previous Geographical BSE-Risk (GBR) assessments are available inhttp://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/outcome_en.html
The EEC Enquiry point reminds hereby that the Official Journal of the European
Communities is available in  http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/es/search_oj.html .