COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) No 961/2011  
of 27 September 2011  
imposing special conditions governing the import of feed and food originating in or consigned from 
Japan following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power station and repealing Regulation (EU) 
No 297/2011  
(Text with EEA relevance)  
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,  
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European 
Union,  
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down 
the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing 
the European Food Safety Authority and laying down 
procedures in matters of food safety (  1 ), and in particular 
Article 53 (1) (b)(ii) thereof,  
Whereas:  
(1) Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 provides for 
the possibility to adopt appropriate Union emergency 
measures for food and feed imported from a third 
country in order to protect public health, animal health 
or the environment, where the risk cannot be contained 
satisfactorily by means of measures taken by the Member 
States individually.  
(2) Following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power 
station on 11 March 2011, the Commission was 
informed that radionuclide levels in certain food 
products originating in Japan such as milk and spinach 
exceeded the action levels in food applicable in Japan. 
Such contamination may constitute a threat to public 
and animal health in the Union and therefore 
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 
297/2011 imposing special conditions governing the 
import of feed and food originating in or consigned 
from Japan following the accident at the Fukushima 
nuclear power station (  2 ) was adopted.  
(3) Regulation (EU) No 297/2011 has been amended at 
several occasions to take into account the development 
of the situation. These amendments concerned the 
adoption of maximum levels of radioactivity to be 
applied for feed and food originating from Japan, 
addition of prefectures to the zone for which specific 
restrictions apply after contamination in these prefectures 
was found at levels above the maximum levels and 
removing prefectures from the zone with restrictions in case extensive monitoring has provided evidence that 
these prefectures were not affected to a significant 
extent by radioactive contamination.  
(4) Since mid July 2011, the Commission was informed by 
the Japanese authorities of findings of high levels of 
caesium in beef from cattle grown in different prefectures 
in Japan. As the import of beef from Japan into the EU is 
not allowed for animal and public health reasons other 
than radioactivity, these findings do not affect the 
European consumer. Also recently, new food products 
have been found to contain levels of radioactivity 
above the maximum levels. These findings and the fact 
that new/other agricultural/horticultural crops are grown 
and harvested in the contaminated zone provide evidence 
that it is appropriate to maintain the current measures 
after 30 September 2011. It is therefore appropriate to 
continue to implement the present Regulation until 
31 December 2011, instead of 30 September 2011 as 
initially foreseen. The principle of a monthly review of 
the implementation of the Regulation is maintained.  
(5) Given that Regulation (EU) No 297/2011 has been 
amended several times in a short period of time it is 
appropriate to replace Regulation (EU) No 297/2011 
by a new Regulation.  
(6) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in 
accordance with the opinion of the Standing 
Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,  
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:  
Article 1  
Scope  
This Regulation shall apply to feedstuffs and foodstuffs within 
the meaning of Article 1 (2) of Regulation (Euratom) No 
3954/87 (  3 ) originating in or consigned from Japan, with the 
exclusion of products which left Japan before 28 March 2011 
and of products which have been harvested and/or processed 
before 11 March 2011.  
Article 2  
Attestation  
1. All consignments of products referred to in Article 1 shall 
be subject to the conditions laid down in this Regulation.EN L 252/10 Official Journal of the European Union 28.9.2011  
( 1 ) OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1.  
( 2 ) OJ L 80, 26.3.2011, p. 5.  (  3 ) OJ L 371, 30.12.1987, p. 11.2. Consignments of products referred to in Article 1 falling 
outside the scope of Council Directive 97/78/EC of 
18 December 1997 laying down the principles governing the 
organisation of veterinary checks on products entering the 
Community for third countries (  1 ) shall be introduced into the 
Union through a designated point of entry within the meaning 
of Article 3 (b) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 669/2009 
(hereinafter  ″designated point of entry  ″) ( 2 ). 
3. Each consignment of products referred to in Article 1 
shall be accompanied by a declaration, attesting that:  
(a) the product has been harvested and/or processed before 
11 March 2011, or  
(b) the product originates in and is consigned from a prefecture 
other than Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Miyagi, 
Nagano, Yamanashi, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa and 
Shizuoka, or  
(c) the product is consigned from Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, 
Tochigi, Miyagi, Nagano, Yamanashi, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, 
Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures, but does not originate 
in one of those prefectures and has not been exposed to 
radioactivity during transiting, or  
(d) where a product originates in Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, 
Tochigi, Miyagi, Nagano, Yamanashi, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, 
Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures, the product does not 
contain levels of radionuclides iodine-131, caesium-134 and 
caesium-137 above the maximum levels provided for in 
Annex II to this Regulation.  
4. Point (d) of paragraph 3 shall apply also to products 
caught or harvested in the coastal waters of the prefectures 
referred to therein, irrespective of where such products are 
landed.  
5. The declaration referred to in paragraph 3 shall be drawn 
up in accordance with the model set out in Annex I. It shall be 
signed by an authorised representative of the competent 
authority of Japan. For the products referred to in point (d) 
of paragraph 3, the declaration shall be accompanied by an 
analytical report containing the results of sampling and analysis.  
Article 3  
Identification  
Each consignment of the products referred to in Article 1 shall 
be identified by means of a code which shall be indicated on the 
declaration referred to in Article 2(3), on the analytical report 
referred to in Article 2(5), on the sanitary certificate and on any 
commercial documents accompanying the consignment.  Article 4  
Prior notification  
Feed and food business operators or their representatives shall 
give prior notification of the arrival of each consignment of the 
products referred to in Article 1, at least two working days 
prior to the physical arrival of the consignment, to the 
competent authorities at the Border Inspection Post or at the 
designated point of entry.  
Article 5  
Official controls  
1. The competent authorities of the border inspection post 
or designated point of entry shall carry out:  
(a) documentary and identity checks on all consignments of 
products referred to in Article 1, and  
(b) physical checks, including laboratory analysis on the 
presence of iodine-131, caesium-134 and caesium-137, on 
at least:  
— 10 % of the consignments of products referred to in 
Article 2 (3) (d) and  
— 20 % of the consignments of products referred to in 
Article 2 (3) (b) and (c).  
2. Consignments shall be kept under official control, for a 
maximum of 5 working days, pending the availability of the 
results of the laboratory analysis.  
3. The release for free circulation of consignments shall be 
subject to the presentation by the feed and food business 
operator or its representative to the customs authorities of the 
declaration referred to Article 2(3), duly endorsed by the 
competent authority at the border inspection post or designated 
point of entry, giving evidence that the official controls referred 
to in paragraph 1 have been carried out and that the results 
from physical checks, where such checks were carried out, have 
been favourable.  
Article 6  
Costs  
All costs resulting from the official controls referred to in 
Article 5(1) and 5(2) and any measures taken following non- 
compliance, shall be borne by the feed and food business 
operator.EN 28.9.2011 Official Journal of the European Union L 252/11  
( 1 ) OJ L 24, 30.1.1998, p. 9.  
( 2 ) OJ L 194, 25.7.2009, p. 11.Article 7  
Non-compliant products  
Feed and food originating in or consigned from Japan which do 
not comply with the maximum levels referred to in Annex II 
shall not be placed on the market. Such non-compliant feed and 
food shall be safely disposed of or returned to the country of 
origin.  
Article 8  
Reports  
Member States shall inform the Commission monthly through 
the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and the 
European Union's Urgent Radiological Information Exchange 
system (ECURIE) of all analytical results obtained.  Article 9  
Repeal  
Regulation (EU) No 297/2011 is repealed.  
References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as 
references to this Regulation.  
Article 10  
Entry into force and period of application  
This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following 
that of its publication in the  Official Journal of the European 
Union.  
It shall apply from the date of entry into force until 
31 December 2011. The Regulation will be reviewed monthly 
taking into account the development of the contamination 
situation.  
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.  
Done at Brussels, 27 September 2011.  
For the Commission  
The President  
José Manuel BARROSOEN L 252/12 Official Journal of the European Union 28.9.2011ANNEX I
EN 28.9.2011 Official Journal of the European Union L 252/13EN L 252/14 Official Journal of the European Union 28.9.2011ANNEX II  
Maximum levels for foodstuffs  ( 1 ) (Bq/kg)  
Foods for infants 
and young 
children  Milk and dairy 
products  Other foodstuffs, 
except liquid 
foodstuffs  Liquid foodstuffs  
Sum of Isotopes of strontium, notably Sr-90  75  125  750  125  
Sum of Isotopes of iodine, notably I-131  100 (  1 ) 300 (  1 ) 2 000  300 (  1 ) 
Sum of Alpha-emitting isotopes of plutonium and 
trans-plutonium elements, notably Pu-239, Am- 
241  1 1 (  1 ) 10 (  1 ) 1 (  1 ) 
Sum of all other nuclides of half-life greater than 
10 days, notably Cs-134 and Cs-137, except C-14 
and H-3  200 (  1 ) 200 (  1 ) 500 (  1 ) 200 (  1 ) 
( 1 ) In order to ensure consistency with action levels currently applied in Japan, these values replace on a provisional basis the  values laid 
down in Council Regulation (Euratom) 3954/87.  
Maximum levels for feedingstuffs  ( 2 ) (Bq/kg)  
Feedingstuffs  
Sum of Cs-134 and Cs-137  500 (  1 ) 
Sum of Isotopes of iodine, notably I-131  2 000 (  2 ) 
( 1 ) In order to ensure consistency with action levels currently applied in Japan, this value replaces on a provisional basis the value laid 
down in Commission Regulation (Euratom) No 770/90. 
( 2 ) This value is laid down on a provisional basis and taken to be the same as for foodstuffs, pending an assessment of transfer factors of 
iodine from feedingstuffs to food products.EN 28.9.2011 Official Journal of the European Union L 252/15  
( 1 ) The level applicable to concentrated or dried products is calculated on the basis of the reconstituted product as ready for c onsumption.  
( 2 ) Maximum level is relative to a feed with a moisture content of 12 %.