WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/EEC/339 
24 December 2008  
 (08-6320) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEASURES  
 
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 number(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Products containing soya and soya products intended for use by infants and 
young children, feed and food containing soya and soya products and ammonium bicarbonate 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[   ] All trading partners, or [ X ] Specific regions or countries:  China  
5. Title of the notified document:   
"Commission Decision 2008/921/EC of 9 December 2008 amending Decision 
2008/798/EC". 
http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriSer v.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:331:0019:0020:EN:PDF  
http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriSer v.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:331:0019:0020:FR:PDF  
http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriSer v.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:331:0019:0020:ES:PDF  
and/or 
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2008/sps/EEC/08_4081_00_e.pdf  
http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2008/sps/EEC/08_4081_00_f.pdf  
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2008/sps/EEC/08_4081_00_s.pdf    
Language:  English, French and Spanish  Number of pages:       
6. Description of content:  The prohibition of import is extended to products containing soya 
and soya products intended for use by infa nts and young children originating in or 
consigned from China and the 100 % testing at  import is extended to feed and food 
containing soya and soya products originating in or consigned from China and the additive 
ammonium bicarbonate imported from China. G/SPS/N/EEC/339 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [   ] animal health, [   ] plant protection, 
[ X ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from other damage from pests.    
8. Nature of the urgent problem(s) and reason for urgent action:  According to 
information made available by the EC member States through the Rapid Alert System for Feed and Food, high level of melamine have also been found recently in products 
containing soya or soya products imported from China.  Melamine has also been found in 
ammonium bicarbonate, used in food industry as ra ising agent.  It is therefore appropriate 
to extend the measures laid down in Commiss ion Decision 2008/798/EC to those products. 
9. Is there a relevant international standard ?  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 N°)     
[ X ] None Does this proposed regulation conform to  the revelant international standard? 
 [   ] Yes   [ X ] No 
 If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard:    
10. Other relevant documents and langua ge(s) in which these are available:    
"Commission Decision 2008/798/EC of 14 October 2008 imposing special conditions 
governing the import of products containing m ilk or milk products originating in or 
consigned from China, and repealing Commi ssion Decision 2008/757/EC" (EN, FR, ES) 
http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriSer v.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:273:0018:0020:EN:PDF   
http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriSer v.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:273:0018:0020:FR:PDF   
http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriSer v.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:273:0018:0020:ES:PDF    
11. Date of entry into force (dd/mm/yy)/period of application (as applicable):  
9 December 2008 
The measures laid down in this Decision shall be regularly reassessed in the light of the 
results of the controls carried out by the EC member States. 
[   ] Trading Facility measure 
12. Agency or authority designated to handle comments: [   ] National Notification 
Authority, [ X ] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:   
 EC Enquiry Point  
 sps@ec.europa.eu  G/SPS/N/EEC/339 
 Page 3 
 
 
  13. Texts available from: [   ] National Notification Authority, [ X ] National Enquiry 
Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:   
 EC Enquiry Point  
 sps@ec.europa.eu