COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1151/2009  
of 27 November 2009  
imposing special conditions governing the import of sunflower oil originating in or consigned from 
Ukraine due to contamination risks by mineral oil and repealing Decision 2008/433/EC  
(Text with EEA relevance)  
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,  
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Community,  
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down 
the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing 
the European Food Safety Authority and laying down 
procedures in matters of food safety (  1 ), and in particular 
Article 53(1)(b)(ii) thereof,  
Whereas:  
(1) Commission Decision 2008/433/EC of 10 June 2008 
imposing special conditions governing the import of 
sunflower oil originating in or consigned from Ukraine 
due to contamination risks by mineral oil (  2 ) has been 
adopted to protect public health following the findings in 
April 2008 of high levels of mineral paraffin in 
sunflower oil from Ukraine.  
(2) The Ukrainian authorities have informed the Commission 
services of the establishment of an appropriate control 
system designed to ensure that all consignments of 
sunflower oil to be exported to the Community are 
certified as not containing levels of mineral oil making 
the sunflower oil unfit for human consumption.  
(3) The details of this control and certification system have 
been assessed by the Commission services and the 
Member States and discussed during the meeting of the 
Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal 
Health held on 20 June 2008. It was concluded that 
this control and certification system could be accepted.  
(4) The Food and Veterinary Office of the European 
Commission carried out an inspection mission in 
Ukraine from 16 to 24 September 2008 in order to 
assess the control systems in place to prevent the contamination with mineral oil of sunflower oil intended 
for export to the Community (  3 ). The inspection team 
concluded that the Ukrainian authorities have imple ­
mented the new official control system to prevent the 
presence of mineral oil in sunflower oil destined for the 
Community and that the control system provided 
sufficient guarantees for that purpose. However, these 
findings showed that the investigation carried out by 
the Ukrainian authorities had not revealed the source 
of the contamination due to the lack of official 
sampling and subsequent follow-up.  
(5) Given the level of risk and in accordance with 
Article 1(4) of Decision 2008/433/EC, Member States 
have controlled all consignments of sunflower oil orig ­
inating from Ukraine in order to verify that these 
consignments do not contain an unacceptable level of 
mineral oil and that the information in the required 
certificate is accurate. The results of those controls 
demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the control 
and certification system put in place by the Ukrainian 
authorities. All analytical results have confirmed the 
correctness of mineral oil levels declared in the certificate.  
(6) It is appropriate to provide that the sampling of 
consignments of sunflower oil for the presence of 
mineral oil has to be performed in accordance with the 
provisions on sampling laid down in Commission Regu ­
lation (EC) No 333/2007 of 28 March 2007 laying down 
the methods of sampling and analysis for the official 
control of the levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, 
inorganic tin, 3-MCPD and benzo(a)pyrene in 
foodstuffs (  4 ) and the international standard ISO 
5555:2003 on sampling of animal and vegetable fats 
and oils.  
(7) Consequently, it is appropriate to review the current 
measures. Given that the amendments are substantial, 
the provisions have a direct application and are binding 
in their entirety, Decision 2008/433/EC should be 
replaced by this Regulation, which could be reviewed at 
a later stage on the basis of the results of the controls 
carried out by the Member States.  
(8) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in 
accordance with the opinion of the Standing 
Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,EN L 313/36 Official Journal of the European Union 28.11.2009  
( 1 ) OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1.  
( 2 ) OJ L 151, 11.6.2008, p. 55.  ( 3 ) http://ec.europa.eu/food/fvo/rep_details_en.cfm?rep_id=2080  
( 4 ) OJ L 88, 29.3.2007, p. 29.HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:  
Article 1  
Scope  
This Regulation shall apply to crude and refined sunflower seed 
oil, falling within CN code 1512 11 91 or TARIC Code 
1512 19 90 10 (hereafter referred to as sunflower oil), orig ­
inating in or consigned from Ukraine.  
Article 2  
Definitions  
For the purpose of this Regulation, ‘mineral paraffin’ means 
saturated hydrocarbons in the range C10-C56 from external 
sources minus the alkanes C27, C29 and C31 which are 
considered to be of endogenous origin for sunflower oil.  
Article 3  
Certification and prior notification  
1. Sunflower oil imported into the Community shall not 
contain more than 50 mg/kg mineral paraffin.  
2. Each consignment of sunflower oil presented for import 
shall be accompanied by a certificate as laid down in Annex, 
certifying that the product does not contain more than 50 
mg/kg mineral paraffin and by an analytical report, issued by 
a laboratory accredited according to EN ISO/IEC 17025 for the 
analysis of mineral oil in sunflower oil, indicating the results of 
sampling and analysis for the presence of mineral oil, the 
measurement uncertainty of the analytical result, as well as 
the limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification 
(LOQ) of the analytical method.  
3. The certificate accompanied by the analytical report shall 
be signed by an authorised representative of the Ministry of 
Health of Ukraine.  
4. Each consignment of sunflower oil shall be identified by 
means of a code which shall be indicated on the health 
certificate, on the analytical report containing the results of 
sampling and analysis, and on the commercial documents 
accompanying the consignment.  
5. The analysis referred to in paragraph 2 must be performed 
on a sample, taken in accordance with the provisions of Regu ­
lation (EC) No 333/2007 and the international standard ISO 
5555:2003.  
6. Feed and food business operators or their representatives 
shall give prior notification to the first point of entry of the estimated date and time of physical arrival of the consignment 
at least one working day prior to the physical arrival of the 
consignment.  
Article 4  
Official control  
1. The competent authorities of a Member State shall check 
that each consignment of sunflower oil presented for import is 
accompanied by a certificate and an analytical report as 
provided for in Article 3(2).  
Member States shall sample and analyse for the presence of 
mineral paraffin certain, selected on a random basis, 
consignments of sunflower oil presented for import into the 
Community, in order to ensure that the consignment does 
not contain more than 50 mg/kg mineral paraffin.  
Member States shall inform the Commission through the rapid 
alert system for food and feed of all consignments which are 
found to contain mineral paraffin above 50 mg/kg taking into 
account the measurement uncertainty.  
2. All official controls before the acceptance for release for 
free circulation into the Community shall be performed within 
15 working days from the moment the consignment is offered 
for import and physically available for sampling.  
Article 5  
Splitting of a consignment  
Consignments shall not be split until the official controls by the 
competent authority as provided for in Article 4 have been 
completed.  
In the case of subsequent splitting of the consignment, a copy 
of the official documents provided for in Article 3(2), to be 
authenticated by the competent authority of the Member State 
on whose territory the splitting has taken place, shall 
accompany each part of the consignment until it is released 
for free circulation.  
Article 6  
Non-compliance measures  
Measures in respect of non-compliant consignments of 
sunflower oil shall be taken in accordance with Article 19 of 
Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and 
of the Council of 29 April 2004 on official control performed 
to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, 
animal health and animal welfare rules (  1 ).EN 28.11.2009 Official Journal of the European Union L 313/37  
( 1 ) OJ L 165, 30.4.2004, p. 1.Article 7  
Costs  
All costs resulting from the official controls including sampling, 
analysis, storage and any measures taken following non- 
compliance, shall be borne by the feed and food business 
operator.  
Article 8  
Repeal  
Decision 2008/433/EC is hereby repealed.  
References to the repealed Decision shall be construed as 
references to this Regulation.  Article 9  
Transitional measures  
By way of derogation from Article 3(2), Member States shall 
authorise the imports of consignments of sunflower oil orig ­
inating in or consigned from Ukraine which left Ukraine prior 
to 1 January 2010, accompanied by the certificate provided for 
in Article 1 of Decision 2008/433/EC.  
Article 10  
Entry into force  
This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following 
its publication in the  Official Journal of the European Union . 
It shall apply from 1 January 2010.  
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.  
Done at Brussels, 27 November 2009.  
For the Commission  
Androulla VASSILIOU  
Member of the CommissionEN L 313/38 Official Journal of the European Union 28.11.2009ANNEX
EN 28.11.2009 Official Journal of the European Union L 313/39