WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/EEC/353 
4 August 2009 
 (09-3779) 
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):  Feedingstuffs 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[X] All trading partners 
[ ] Specific regions or countries:    
5. Title of the notified document:  "Draft Commission Directive of *** amending Annex I 
to Directive 2002/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards 
maximum levels for mercury, gossypol, nitrites and Madhuca longifolia  L."  Language:  
English  Number of pages:  7 
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2009/sps/EEC/09_2729_00_e.pdf  
6. Description of content:  This draft Commission Directive amending Annex I to Directive 
2002/32/EC aims at amending certain provisi ons for certain undesirable substances. 
Following the availability of the EFSA scientif ic opinions providing an updated risk 
assessment relating to certain existing provisi ons in Annex I to Directive 2002/32/EC on 
undesirable substances in feed, several provisions are proposed to be modified. 
The draft Commission Directive contains the following proposed changes to the Annex of 
Directive 2002/32/EC: 
− Modifying the maximum level for mercury in fish feed, in compound feed for dog, cats 
and fur animals; 
− Modifying the maximum levels for nitrites in feed materials; 
− Lowering of the existing maximum levels fo r gossypol in feed for goats (including 
kids) and sheep (including lamb);  and 
− Deletion of the provision for Madhuca longifolia  L. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [X] food safety, [X] animal health, [ ] plant protection, [ 
] protect humans from animal/plant pest or  disease, [ ] protect territory from other 
damage from pests.    G/SPS/N/EEC/353 
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:   
Available in English: 
Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminan ts in the Food Chain on a request from the 
European Commission on mercury as undesirable substance in feed.  The EFSA Journal  
(2008) 654, 1-76. http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Scientific_Opinion/CONTAM_op_ej654_mercur
y_en_rev_1.pdf?ssbinary=true  
Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminan ts in the Food Chain on a request from the 
European Commission on nitrite as und esirable substances in animal feed.  The EFSA 
Journal  (2009) 1017, 1-47. 
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Sc ientific_Opinion/contam_op_ej1017_nitrite_U
SAF_en.pdf?ssbinary=true  
Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminan ts in the Food Chain on a request from the 
European Commission on gossypol as undesirable substance in animal feed.  The EFSA 
Journal  (2008) 908, 1-55. 
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Sc ientific_Opinion/contam_op_ej908_gossypol_
en_clean,0.pdf?ssbinary=true  
Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminan ts in the Food Chain on a request from the 
European Commission on Saponins in Madhuca Longifolia  L. as undesirable substances in 
animal feed.  The EFSA Journal  (2009) 979, 1-36. 
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/cs/BlobServer/Scie ntific_Opinion/contam_op_ej979_saponins_e
n,0.pdf?ssbinary=true  
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) :  End of December 2009 
Proposed date of publication (dd/mm/yy) :  End of December 2009 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  [ ] Six months from date of publication , and/or  
(dd/mm/yy) :  1 September 2010 
[ ] Trade facilitating measure  G/SPS/N/EEC/353 
 Page 3 
 
 
  12. Final date for comments:  [X] Sixty days  from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or (dd/mm/yy) :  3 October 2009 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [X] National Notification 
Authority, [ ] 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, [ ] National Enquiry Point.  
Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:    
sps@ec.europa.eu