. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/EEC/247 
1 September 2004 
 (04-3617) 
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 Co mmunities.  Health & Consumer 
Protection Director ate-General Directorate E – Food Safe ty:  Plant Health, Animal Health 
and Welfare, International questions 
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):  Roasted coffee beans, ground roasted co ffee and soluble coffee (CN headings 
0901 21, 2101 11 and 2101 12) wine (CN headi ngs 2204 and 2205) grape juice and grape 
must (CN heading 2009 61) 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected , to the extent relevant or practicable:  
Member States of the Europ ean Communities (EC) and third countries exporting the products 
concerned to the EC.  
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:   Draft Commission 
Regulation amending Commissi on Regulation (EC) No. 466/20 01 (Official Journal L77, 
16/03/2001;  pages 1-13) as regards ochratoxi n A (SANCO/0005/2004 rev.1;  5 pages.). 
6. Description of content:  In addition to the already existing maximum levels for ochratoxin A 
in cereals and derived cereal  products and dried vine fruit,  this proposal establishes  
harmonized maximum Community levels for ochratoxin A in some additional food 
commodities, summarised as follows: 
- roasted coffee beans and ground roasted coffee 5.0 µg /kg 
- soluble coffee 10.0 µg /kg  
- wine and other wine and/or grape must based beverages 2.0 µg/kg 
- grape juice and grape juice ingr edients in other beverages 2.0 µg /kg 
7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [   ] animal health, [   ] plant protection, 
[  ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or  disease, [   ] protec t territory from other 
damage from pests.   Protection of public health being the main objective of this proposal, 
this proposal will also facilitate trade (som e EC Member States have adopted maximum 
levels for OTA in the concerned foods creating disparities).  G/SPS/N/EEC/247 
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:  The proposed Community measures respond to 
the advice of the EU Scientif ic Committee on Food (SCF, 1998) 
9. Relevant documents and language(s ) in which these are available:  European 
Commission Document SANCO/0005/2004 rev.1 (ava ilable in English).  When adopted it 
will be published in the Offi cial Journal available at: 
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/index.html  
10. Proposed date of adoption:   Late 2004 (at this time it is not possible to estimate a more 
specific date) 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:   1 January 2005 
12. Final date for comments:  Sixty (60) days after th e 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 notificati on authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: 
The opinion of the Scientific Committee for Food on the risks to human health of OTA 
(adopted on 17 September 2004) mentione d in paragraph 8 is available at: 
http://europa.eu.int/comm /food/fs/sc/scf/out14_en.html  
The report "Assessment of dietary intake of Ochratoxin A by the population of EU Member 
States" finalized in January 2002 (referred to in  recital 4 of the propos al) is available at: 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/food/chemic alsafety/contaminan ts/task_3-2-7_en.pdf