. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/EEC/201
13 June 2003
(03-3135)
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:   Commission of the European Communities. Health & Consumer
Protection Directorate-General  Directorate E – Food Safety, Plant Health, Animal Health
and Welfare, International questions
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where
applicable): Meat of bovine animals, fresh or chilled (0201), Meat of bovine animals,
frozen (0202), Meat of sheep or goats, fresh, chilled or frozen (0204), Edible offal of
bovine animals fresh, chilled or frozen (0206), Meat of bovine animals and edible meat
offal, salted, in brine, dried or smoked; edible flours and meals of meat or meat offal (0210
20), Guts, bladders and stomachs of animals (other than fish), whole and pieces thereof,
fresh, chilled frozen, salted, in brine, dried or smoked (0504), Raw material for themanufacture of animal feedingstuffs (C N 0210.90). Bones and horn-cores, unworked,
defatted, simply prepared (but not cut to shape), treated with acid or degelatinised; powder
and waste of these products (0506), Fats of bovine animals, sheep or goats, other than those
of heading 1503 (1502), Sausages and similar products, of meat, meat offal or blood; food
preparations based on these products (1601), Ot her prepared or preserved meat, meat offal
or blood (1602), Flours, meals and pellets, of meat or meat offal, of fish or of crustaceans,
molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates, unfit for human consumption; greaves (2301),
Gelatine (including gelatin in rectangular (including square) sheets, whether or not surface-
worked or coloured) and gelatine derivatives; isinglass; other glues of animal origin,
excluding casein glues of heading 3501 (3503).
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: Costa
Rica
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Draft Proposal for a
Commission Regulation amending Regula tion (EC) No 999/2001 of the European
Parliament and of the Council as regards rules for importation of live animals and products
of animal origin.  (Doc.SANCO/2065/2003 – Available in English, 5 pages)
6. Description of content: In notification G/SPS/N/EEC/72 (16 April 1999) the EC informed
of a proposal ending in :  Regulation 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the
Council laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain
transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.  (OJ. L147, 31/05/2001, pp:1-40). This
regulation lays down certain trade conditions as transitional measures, which in particular
relate to the absence of specified BSE risk material in products exported to the EU.
Countries where the BSE presence in the cattle population is considered highly unlikely are
exempted from these trade conditions and are listed in point 10 of Annex XI to this
Regulation including Costa Rica.G/SPS/N/EEC/201
Page 2
In its opinion on 11 January 2002, the Scientific Steering Committee adopted an opinion to
update the method to establish the geographical BSE risk. When assessing the external
challenge it was agreed not only to take into account the imports from countries where BSEhad been confirmed but also the imports from other countries with a BSE risk (GBR III)
but no confirmed cases. Countries, which were assessed under the old method, should
therefore be reassessed. This opinion is available inhttp://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out243_en.pdf
In its updated opinion of 10 April 2003 on the geographical BSE risk of certain third
countries, the SSC modified the previous opinion on Costa Rica and concluded that the
occurrence of BSE in native cattle in Costa Rica is unlikely but not excluded. This opinion
is available from
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/out333_en.pdf
The original rationale for exempting Costa Rica from the import conditions is consequentlyno longer valid, and therefore it is proposed to delete Costa Rica from the list of exempted
countries.
7. Objective and rationale:  [  X ] food safety, [   ] animal health, [   ] plant protection,
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or  disease,  [   ]  protect territory from
other damage from pests
8. International standard, gu ideline or recommendation:
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [   ] Office International des Epizooties,
[   ] International Plant Prot ection Convention, [ X ] None
If an international standard , guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:
9. Relevant documents and language(s ) in which these are available: European
Commission Document SANCO/ 2065/2003  (Available in all EC languages. When a dopted
it will be published at the Official Journal available at:  http://europa.eu.int/eur-
lex/en/oj/index.html
10. Proposed date of adoption:  24-25 September 2003
11. Proposed date of entry into force:   Entry into force on the 20th day following that of its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities
12. Final date for comments:  Sixty (60) days after the date of notification
Agency or authority designated to handl e comments:  [ X ] National notification
authority, [   ] EC enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if
available) of other body:
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National notification authority,  [ X ] EC enquiry point, or
address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: