WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/264
10 July 2001
(01-3424)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  Spanish
EXPORT OF FISH-MEAL TO THE EUROPEAN UNION
Communication from Chile
Introduction1. In response to the epidemiological situation of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in
countries of the European Union which caused a domestic crisis and considerable alarm among
European consumers, the Commission of the Euro pean Union issued a series of decisions and
regulations with a view to ensuring the prevention, control and eradication of transmissiblespongiform encephalopathies.
2. Chile recognizes the need, in view of the implications for animal health and the security of
consumers, to lay down strict regulations to deal with the problem, based on scientific criteria and risk
analyses.  However, it considers the application of the Decisions indicated below to be discriminatory
and without scientific foundation, since they directly affect the use and marketing of fish-meal, a vitalproductive sector of Chile's economy, without any scientific evidence that this product is a source of
infection for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.
Decisions of the EU which affect fish-meal exports
3. Council Decision 2000/766/EC of 4 December 2000 concerning certain protection measures
with regard to transmissible spongiform encephal opathies and the feeding of animal protein, and
Commission Decision 2001/9/EC of 29 December 2000 concerning control measures required for theimplementation of Council Decision 2000/766/EC.
4. These Decisions, of a temporary nature, were extended as transitional measures, since
Regulation (EC) No. 999/2001 of the European Par liament and of the Council laying down rules for
the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies,
discussed on 19 June 2001 in the Council of Ministers of Agriculture of the European Union, wasreturned to the Commission without the necessary majority for approval.
5. Article 1, paragraph 2 of these transitional measur es stipulates that Article 7(2), (3) and (4) of
Decision No. 999/2001 shall not apply to a member St ate until the coming into force of the decision
determining the BSE status of that member State, and until the Community provisions on animal
feeding relevant to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies are effectively enforced there.
6. During this transitional period, Annex XI, Section C concerning prohibitions on animal
feeding shall apply, thus extending Decisions 200 0/766/EC and 2001/9/EC which prohibit the feeding
of ruminants with animal meal, including fish-meal, and require animal feed processing plants to have
more than one production line.G/SPS/GEN/264
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Arguments put forward in the light of the duties and obligations laid down in the WTO
Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS)
• The prohibition of the use of fish-meal in the feeding of ruminants is without
scientific foundation and infringes Article 2.2 of the SPS Agreement, since fish-meal
is unrelated to the risk of infection of animals with the prion disease BovineSpongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).
• The adequate level of protection established by the European Union does not call for
a scientifically based risk analysis, and the risk mitigation measure applied bears norelation to the real cause of contamination and subsequent infection of the animals.
• The only causes revealed thus far by the investigations conducted are related to meat-
and bone-meal.  The procedure applied is inconsistent with Article 5 of theSPS Agreement.
• The measures applied make it impossible to feed animals with fish-meal, which is
considered internationally to be an ideal base  for the diet of farm animals owing to its
nutritive and nutritional qualities.
• Fish-meal contains essential amino acids that are irreplaceable for growth,
development and fertility;  omega-3 fatty acids;  energy and proteins at a
concentration of between 64 per cent and 80 per cent;  and vitamins A, B, B12, D and
minerals.
• The fish-meal and fish oil industry in Chile meets the necessary requirements to
guarantee sustainability of renewable resources and to guarantee their safety for
human and animal health, with the additional advantage of minimal levels of dioxinin relation to the meals produced in the North Sea.
• The production plants process exclusively the catches of the fishing fleet and are far
from sources of human, industrial and terrestrial animal pollution.
7. Since this is not the first time that fish-meal has been subjected to uncalled for restrictions,
without scientific justification, by the European  Union (the previous case involved sampling for
Salmonella) and these restrictions have not been extended to vegetable flour, our country considers
the measures currently in force to be discriminatory.
8. We propose that the European Union study the Balai Directive, which puts fish-meal in the
same risk category as terrestrial animal meal, with a view to placing meal of marine origin in aseparate group, thus avoiding the problems that repeatedly arise owing to a misclassification, that
does not reflect the actual nature of the product or the effective risk of disease transmission.
9. In keeping with the above, Chile requests that proteins of marine origin such as fish-meal be
expressly excluded from the new regulation exte nding Council Decision No. 2000/766/EC concerning
certain protection measures with regard to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and the feedingof animal protein as well as Commission Decision 2001/9/EC concerning control measures required
for the implementation of Council Decision 2000/766 /EC, and that the prohibition be maintained
exclusively for meat- and bone-meal of terrestrial ruminants.
10. In addition to authorizing the use of fish-meal to  feed ruminants, we request that paragraph 6
of Annex 1 of Decision 2001/9/EC be made more flexible in order to permit the effective use of fish-G/SPS/GEN/264
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meal in all animal feeding stuffs by authorizing the operation of establishments with only one
processing line, provided that line is cleaned following each use for different feeding stuffs for
terrestrial animals such as poultry, swine, etc.
11. Pursuant to Article 7 of the SPS Agreement, Chile and Peru held consultations with the
Veterinary Commission of the European Union and different countries of the European Unionconcerning the inconsistency of the Decision at issue.
12. We would also like to observe that on 31 May 2001, Regulation (EC) No. 999/2001 of the
European Parliament and of the Council laying dow n rules for the prevention, control and eradication
of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies was published in the Official Journal of the
European Communities.  Article 7 of this Regulation ("Prohibitions concerning animal feeding")
excludes fish-meal from the prohibition.
13. In spite of this, the Commission extended Council Decision 2000/766/EEC concerning certain
protection measures with regard to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and the feeding of
animal protein for an indefinite period of time,  thereby maintaining the restrictions on feeding
ruminants with fish-meal and the requirement of more than one production line in factories producing
animal feeding stuffs.
14. In view of the above considerations, the health authorities of the Government of Chile request
that the Commission promptly apply Regulation (EC) No. 999/2001 which permits the use of
fish-meal to feed ruminants, and when it is in for ce, that it make the requirements for feed-producing
plants more flexible and authorize the use of fish-meal in establishments which process feeds for
different kinds of animals and have only one producti on line, provided that line is thoroughly cleaned
between the different production processes.
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