. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/EEC/295 
3 October 2006 
 (06-4733) 
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 – 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):   Erythritol (E 968) and maltitol syrup as food additives (sweeteners) and all 
foods in which these sweeteners are used. (HS 2905, 2906 when circulating for food use)  
ICS: 67.220  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable:  
Member states of the European Communitie s (EEC) and third countries exporting the 
products concerned to the EEC.  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Commission Document 
SANCO/2006/1849 " Draft Commission Directive amending Directive 95/31/EC laying 
down specific criteria of purity con cerning sweeteners for use in foodstuffs " (22 pages).  
6. Description of content:  The draft Directive adopts the specific purity criteria for E 968 
erythritol.  It also updates the specific purity criteria for E 965 (ii) maltitol syrup in order to allow a new manufacturing process. 
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: 
[ X ] Codex Alimentarius Commission,  [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention,  [   ] None 
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:  The draft takes into account the specifications 
established by international bodies (JECFA (J oint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food 
Additives)). G/SPS/N/EEC/295 
Page 2  
 
  9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  European 
Commission Document SANCO/2006/1849 (available in English). When a dopted it will be 
published at the Official Journal available at: http://europa.eu.int/eur-
lex/lex/JOYear.do?year=2006 . 
The scientific risk assessments related to the safety in use of the concerned substances are 
available at: http://ec.europa.eu/food/ fs/sc/scf/out175_en.pdf  
http://www.efsa.eu.int/scie nce/afc/afc_opinions/1493/af c_ej354_maltitolsyrup_op_en1.pdf  
10. Proposed date of adoption:  November 2006 (at this time is not possible to estimate a 
more specific date). 
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.  Comments are 
welcome at any time.  They will be considered at the occasion of a new modification of Directive 96/77/EC laying down specific purity criteria on food additives other than colours and sweeteners. 
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: