. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/EEC/360 
23 November 2009 
 (09-5802) 
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 numbe r(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO;  ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):   Stone fruit spirits (CN Code 2208 90); stone fruit marc spirits (CN Code 2208 
90) 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[ ] All trading partners   
[X] Specific regions or countries:  EC member States and countries exporting these 
products to the European Communities.  
5. Title of the notified document:  "Draft Commission Recommendation of *** on the 
prevention and reduction of ethyl carbamate c ontamination in stone fruit spirits and stone 
fruit marc spirits and on the monitoring of et hyl carbamate levels in these beverages" 
Language:  English  Number of pages:  8  
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2009/sps/EEC/09_4099_00_e.pdf  
6. Description of content:  This draft Commission Recommendation is addressed to the EC 
member States.  It recommends to the memb er States to ensure that the specific 
recommendations for Good Manufacturing Practice described in the Code of Practice (annexed to the recommendation) are implemented by all relevant food operators.  It also 
recommends to ensure that all the appropriate measures are taken to achieve levels of ethyl 
carbamate of 1 mg/l as a target.  Member States are recommended to monitor ethyl carbamate levels during the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 in order to enable the Commission 
to assess the effects of the Code of Practice after this time.  This will be done with a view 
of deciding about the need to introduce future maximum levels of ethyl carbamate in stone 
fruit spirits ad stone fruit marc spirits. 
7. 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/360 
Page 2  
 
  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 number)    
[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:   
European Commission document SANCO/5396/2009, Rev. 2 (available in English).  When 
adopted it will be published in the Official Journal available at:  http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm  
A scientific opinion on ethyl carbamate is  available from the European Food Safety 
Authority in English: 
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Scie ntific_Opinion/Contam _ej551_ethyl_carbam
ate_en_rev.1,0.pdf?ssbinary=true  
An earlier risk assessment is also available from the WHO/FAO Joint Expert meeting on 
Food Additives and Contaminants in the F ood Chain: Evaluation of certain food 
contaminants (Sixty-fourth report of th e Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food 
Additives, WHO Technical Report Series, No. 930, P. 31, 2006). 
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) :  Estimated for January 2010 
Proposed date of publication (dd/mm/yy) :  End of January 2010 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  [ ] Six months from date of publication , and/or  
(dd/mm/yy) :  Day of publication 
[ ] Trade facilitating measure   
12. Final date for comments:  [X] Sixty days  from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or (dd/mm/yy) :  19 January 2010 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [X] National Notification 
Authority, [X] 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, [X] National Enquiry 
Point.  Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:  
sps@ec.europa.eu