WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/EEC/292 
10 August 2006 
 (06-3841) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd 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 Co mmunities. Health & Consumer 
Protection Directorate-General.  
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):  Food enzymes. HS 3527, ICS: 67:220 and the foods in which they are used.  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable:  
Member States of the European Communiti es (EC) and third countries exporting the 
products concerned to the EC.  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Commission Document 
COM (2006) 425 final, 2006/0144(COD) ' Proposal for a Regulation of the European 
Parliament and of the Council on food enzymes  and amending Council Directive 
83/417/EEC, Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999, Directive 2000/13/EC, and Council 
Directive 2001/112/EC'  (37 pages ) 
6. Description of content:  The community rule for the use of  enzymes fall into the scope of 
several legislative frames such as 
- Council Directive 83/417/EEC of 25 July 19 83 on the approximation of the laws of 
the Member States relating to certain lactoproteins (caseins and caseinates) intended for human consumption   (Official Journal L 237 , 26 /08/1983 P. 0025 – 0031)  
- Council Directive 89/107/EEC of 21 December 1988 on the approximation of the 
laws of the Member States concerning food additives authorised for use in foodstuffs intended for human consumption (O fficial Journal L 40, 11/02/1989 P. 
27) 
- Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999 of 17 May 1999 on the common 
organisation of the market in wine  (Official Journal L 179 , 14/07/1999 P. 0001 – 
0084)  
- Council Directive 2001/112/EC of 20 Dece mber 2001 relating to fruit juices and 
certain similar products intended for human consumption   (Official Journal L 010 , 
12/01/2002 P. 0058 – 0066)  
- National legislation of the member States of the EC.  
As a consequence there are different rules for the authorisation and use of food enzymes, 
which leads to confusion and therefore would benefit from some clarification.  G/SPS/N/EEC/292 
Page 2  
 
  This proposal aims:  
- To harmonise the area of food enzymes w ithin the European Community through 
new proposed rules for the authorisation and use of all food enzymes  
- To set provisions for the establishment of a Community list of permitted food 
enzymes with transition measures.  
- To provide labelling requirements for food enzymes. Food enzymes used as 
processing aids (i.e. which there are present in food in the form of residues and no 
longer exert a technological function in the fi nal food) will not be labelled.  On the 
other hand, food enzymes used to exert a technological function in the final food will be labelled with their function (e.g. stabiliser) and specific name.  
- When adopted this legislation will abrogate  the corresponding provisions for the use 
of enzymes in other legislation 
Further Background 
The commission with a view to clarifying this legislation by  incorporating new scientific 
knowledge and the ultimate aim of facilitating trade by setting clear rules, is presenting a 
package of four related proposals. Of mo st relevance is the proposal notified under 
G/SPS/N/EEC/294 which includes the common pro cedure for the authorisation of food 
enzymes.  
The other proposals are  
G/SPS/N/EEC/291 
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and Council on Food Additives 
[COM(2006) 428 final / 2006/0145 (COD)] 48 pages.  
G/SPS/N/EEC/293 
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on flavourings and certain food ingredients with flavouring prope rties for use in and on foods and amending 
Council Regulation (EEC) No 1576/89, Council Regulation (EEC) No 1601/91, Regulation 
(EC) No 2232/96 and Directive 2000/13/EC [COM(2006) 427 final  2006/0147 (COD)] 49 
pages. 
G/SPS/N/EEC/294 
Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a 
common authorisation procedure for food add itives, food enzymes and food flavourings 
[COM(2006) 423 final  2006/0143 (COD)]  21 pages.  
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   
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation: 
[  ] Codex Alimentarius Commission,  [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention,  [ X ] None 
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:   G/SPS/N/EEC/292 
 Page 3 
 
 
  9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Commission 
Document COM (2006) 425 final, 2006/0144(COD) 'Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on food enzymes and amending Council Directive 
83/417/EEC, Council Regulation (EC) No 149 3/1999, Directive 2000/13/EC, and Council 
Directive 2001/112/EC'. 
Document available at: 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriSe rv/site/en/com/2006/com2006_0425en01.pdf  
10. Proposed date of adoption:  This European Commission proposal is submitted to the 
Council and to the European Parliament fo r its adoption according to the co-decision 
procedure (Article 251 of the EC Treaty). An ex act date of adoption ca nnot be given at this 
moment although is expected to take place around spring 2008.   
Detailed information about this pr ocedure is given at "Pre-Lex": 
http://ec.europa.eu/prelex/detail _dossier_real.cfm?CL=en&DosId=194536    
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  20 days as of publication in the Official Journal.  
12. Final date for comments:  Sixty (60) days after the date of notification.  
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [ X ] National notification 
authority, [   ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:   
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National notification authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: