WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/EEC/346 
23 July 2009 
 (09-3617) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
 
 
 
NOTIFICATION  
 
1. Notifying Member:  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES  
If applicable, name of local government involved:    
2. Agency responsible:  Commission of the European Communities.  Health & Consumers 
Directorate-General,  Directorate E – Safety of the food chain 
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):  Feedingstuffs 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[ X ] All trading partners, or [   ] Specific regions or countries:    
5. Title of the notified document:  "Draft Commission Directiv e amending Annex I to 
Directive 2002/32/EC of the European Parlia ment and of the Council as regards maximum 
levels for arsenic, theobromine, Datura  sp., Ricinus communis  L., Croton tiglium  L. and 
Abrus precatorius  L."  Language:  English, French and Spanish.  All EU official 
languages on request  Number of pages:  7 
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2009/sps/EEC/09_2547_00_e.pdf  
http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2009/sps/EEC/09_2547_00_f.pdf  
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2009/sps/EEC/09_2547_00_s.pdf  
6. Description of content:  This draft Commission Directive amending Annex I to Directive 
2002/32/EC aims at amending certain provisi ons for certain undesirable substances.  
Following the availability of the EFSA scientif ic opinions providing an updated risk 
assessment relating to certain existing provi sions in Annex I to Directive 2002/32/EC on 
undesirable substances in feed, several provisions are proposed to be modified. 
The draft Commission Directive contains the following proposed changes to the Annex of 
Directive 2002/32/EC: 
− setting maximum levels for arsenic in add itives belonging to the functional group of 
compounds of trace elements; 
− adapting the maximum levels for arsenic in fi sh meal, fish oil and fish feed following 
recent developments in technical knowledge; 
− setting a maximum levels for arsenic in iron used as tracer; 
– lowering of the existing maximum levels for theobromine; 
– amending the provisions for Datura  sp, Ricinus communis  L. and Croton tiglium  L.; 
and 
– introduction of a provision for Abrus precatorius  L. G/SPS/N/EEC/346 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [ X ] animal health, [   ] plant protection, [  
 ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from other damage from pests.    
8. Is there a relevant international stan dard?  If so, identify the standard:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g.  title or serial number of Codex standard 
or related text)    
[   ] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number)     
[   ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g.  ISPM N°)     
[ X ] None Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant international standard?   
 [   ] Yes   [   ] No 
 If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard:    
9. Other relevant documents and language (s) in which these are available:  Scientific 
Opinion of the Panel on contaminants in the Food Chain of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on a request from the European Commission related to arsenic as undesirable substances in animal feed.  The EFSA Journal  (2005) 180, 1-35. 
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Sc ientific_Opinion/CONTAM%2086%20final%
20Arsenic.pdf?ssbinary=true  
Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain on a request from the 
European Commission on theobromine as und esirable substances in animal feed.  The 
EFSA Journal (2008) 725, 1-66.  
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Scie ntific_Opinion/contam_op_ej725_theobromi
ne_en,0.pdf?ssbinary=true  
Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain on a request from the 
European Commission on Tropane alkaloids (from Datura  sp.) as undesirable substances in 
animal feed.  The EFSA Journal  (2008) 691, 1-55. 
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Scie ntific_Opinion/contam _op_ej691_tropane_al
kaloids_en,0.pdf?ssbinary=true  
Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain on a request from the 
European Commission on ricin (from Ricinus communis ) as undesirable substances in 
animal feed.  The EFSA Journal  (2008) 726, 1-38. 
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Scie ntific_Opinion/contam _op_ej726_ricin_en,0.
pdf?ssbinary=true  
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) :  End of September 2009 
Propose date of publication ( dd/mm/yy) :  End of September 2009 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  [   ] Six months from date of publication , and/or  
(dd/mm/yy) :  1 July 2010    
[   ] Trade facilitating measure   G/SPS/N/EEC/346 
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  12. Final date for comments: [ X ] Sixty days  from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or ( dd/mm/yy ):  13 September 2009 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [ X ] National Notification 
Authority, [   ] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:    
sps@ec.europa.eu 
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National Notification Authority, [   ] National Enquiry 
Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:    
sps@ec.europa.eu