. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/EEC/282 
6 February 2006 
 (06-0485) 
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 Communities.  Health & Consumer 
Protection Directorate-General Directorate E – Food Safety:  production and distribution 
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):  Foodstuffs in which smoke flavourings 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 pa ges of the notified document:  Draft Commission 
Regulation implementing Regulati on (EC) N° 2065/2003 of the European Parliament and of 
the Council as regards quality criteria for valid ated analytical methods for sampling, 
identification and characterisation of primary smoke products (SANCO/2005/3955, 
8 pages).  
6. Description of content:   
Regulation (EC) N° 2065/2003 of the Europ ean Parliament and of the Council of 
10 November 2003 on smoke flavourings used or intended for use in or on foods, lays down 
a Community procedure for authorisation of primary smoke condensates and primary tar fractions, called primary products, for use as su ch in or on foods or in the production of 
derived smoke flavourings for use in and on foods. 
Only products that have been evaluated by  the European Food Safety Authority can be 
authorised.  In order to be evaluated, app lications must, among other things, provide data 
about the chemical composition of the primary product and a validated analytical method for its identification and characterisation. 
Quality criteria for the proposed methods n eed to be adopted to ensure minimum 
performance of the proposed methods. 
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/282 
Page 2  
 
  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:   
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:   
European Commission Document SANCO/2005/3955.  When adopted it w ill be published at 
the Official Journal available at: http://europa.eu.int/eur-l ex/lex/JOYear.do?year=2006
  
 Scientific Committee on Food , Opinion on th e risks to human health of Polycyclic 
Aromatic Hydrocarbons in food (exp ressed on 4 December 2002, 84 pages): 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/scf/out153_en.pdf
  
 Site of the EFSA (European Food Safety Agen cy). Register of requested opinions (Smoke 
flavour primary product): http://www.efsa.eu.int/regi ster/qr_subareas_18_en.html
 
 
Site of Food and Feed Safety of DG Heal th and Consumer Protection of the EC: Smoke 
flavourings: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/food/chemic alsafety/flavouring/smokeflavouring_en.htm
 
 
Also see the legislative texts : 
 Commission Recommendation of 4 February 2005 on the further investigation into the levels 
of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in certai n foods [OJ L 34, 8 February 2005, pp.43-45]: 
http://europa.eu.int/eur-
lex/lex/LexUriServ/site/ en/oj/2005/l_034/l_03420050208en00430045.pdf  
 
Decision of the EEA Joint Committee No 96/2005 of 8 July 2005 amending Annex II (Technical regulations, standards,  testing and certification) to the EEA Agreement [L 306, 
24 November 2005, pp.21-23]: http://europa.eu.int/eur-
lex/lex/LexUriServ/site/ en/oj/2005/l_306/l_30620051124en00210023.pdf  
10. Proposed date of adoption:  April 2006.  
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  On the twentieth (20) day following that of its 
publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.  
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 noti fication authority, [ X ] National enquiry 
point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: