. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/EEC/135
6 August 2001
(01-3877)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
If applicable, name of local government involved:           
2. Agency responsible:  European Commission, General Directorate for Health and Consumer
Protection
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where
applicable).  Food of land animal origin under TARIC Chapters 2 (Meat and edible meat
offal:), 3 (Fish and crustaceans;); 4 ( Dairy produce; birds' eggs); 5 (Products of animal
origin, not elsewhere specified ) 15 (Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage
products; prepared edible fats) 16 (Preparations of meat; of fish or of crustaceans, molluscs
or other aquatic invertebrates); as specified in the annex. All Animal fodder within TARIC
Chapters 10 (Cereals); 11 (Products of the milling industry); 12 (Oil seeds and oleaginous
fruits, miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; straw and fodder); 15 and 23 (Residues and
waste from the food industries; prepared animal fodder except for fur animals), as specified
in the annex. Feedingstuffs additives Including those circulating under circulating under
TARIC Chapters 25  (salt; sulphur); 26 (Ores); 28 (inorganic chemicals) and 35(albuminoidal substances; modified starches; glues; enzymes), as specified in the annex.Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:  EC
member States and third countries exporting to the European Communities
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Draft Commission
Recommendation on the reduction of the presence of dioxins and PCBs in feedingstuffs
(5 pages)
5. Description of content:  This draft Recommendation forms a part of an overall
comprehensive strategy to reduce the presence of dioxins in environment, food and feed
(Notifications G/SPS/N/EEC/134 G/SPS/N/EEC/135 G/SPS/N/EEC/136 and
G/SPS/N/EEC/137).
The tools to achieve this reduction, necessary to guarantee a high level of public health
protection, consist of source directed measures and the establishment of maximum levels,
action levels and target levels.  Action levels act as an early warning tool, initiating actions
by authorities and operators to identify the source of contamination and take the appropriatemeasures.
This draft Recommendation establishes the following action levels as guidance (action level
relative to a feedingstuff with a moisture content of 12 per cent and expressed in WHO-
PCDD/F-TEQ = sum of polychlorinated dibenzo- para -dioxins (PCDDs) and
polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) expr essed in World Health Organisation (WHO)
toxic equivalents, using the WHO –TEFs (toxic equivalency factors):
• All feed materials of plant origin including
vegetable oils and  by-products: 0.50 ng/kgG/SPS/N/EEC/135
Page 2
• Minerals, binders (kaolinitic clay, calcium sulphate dihydrate,
vermiculite, natrolite-phonolite, synthetic calcium aluminates,
clinoptilolite of sedimentary origin) and trace elements 0.50 ng/kg
• Animal fat including milk and egg fat 1.20 ng/kg
• Other land animal products including milk and milk products
and eggs and egg products 0.50 ng/kg
• Fish oil 4.50 ng/kg
• Fish, other aquatic animals, their products and by-products with
the exception of fish oil 1.00 ng/kg
• Compound feedingstuffs, with the exception of feedingstuffs
for fur animals 0.40 ng/kg
• Feedingstuffs for fish, feedingstuffs for fish 1.50 ng/kg
6. Objective and rationale: [  X ] food safety,  [     ] animal health,  [     ] plant protection,
[    ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [     ] protect territory from
other damage from pests           
7. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [  X ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:           
8. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  European
Commission Document SANC O/0383/01 – Rev.4 (Available in all EC languages)
9. Proposed date of adoption:  October 2001
10. Proposed date of entry into force:  1 January 2002
11. Final date for comments:  15 September 2001
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [     ] National notification
authority, [  X ] EC enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if
available) of other body:           
12. Texts available from: [     ] National notification authority, [  X ] EC enquiry point or
address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:
The Risk assessments made by the Scientific Committee for food are available at
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/scf/out78_en.pdf
http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/scf/out90_en.pdf
The Risk assessments made by the Scientific Committee for Animal Nutrition is available athttp://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/scan/out55_en.pdf
The assessment of the health risk of dioxins made by a WHO consultation (1998) is
available at http://www.who.int/pcs/docs/diox in-exec-sum/exe-sum-final.html
The report of the 57th meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee of Food Additives
(JECFA) International Program for Chemical  Safety (IPCS, 2001) is available at:
http://www.who.int/pcs/jecfa/Summary57-corr.pdf