1980L0215 — EN — 01.11.1980 — 001.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COUNCILDIRECTIVE
of22January1980
onanimalhealthproblemsaffecting intra-Communitytradeinmeatproducts
(80/215/EEC)
(OJ L 47, 21.2.1980, p. 4)
Amended by:
Official Journal
No page date
►M1Council Directive 80/1100/EEC of 11 November 1980 L 325 16 1.12.1980
▼B
COUNCILDIRECTIVE
of22January1980
on animal health problems affecting intra-Community trade in
meatproducts
(80/215/EEC)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Articles 43 and 100 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(1),
Whereas Council Directive 77/99/EEC of 21 December 1976 on health
problems affecting intra-Community trade in meat products(2) has been
applicable since 1 July 1979;
Whereas the implementation of the above Directive will not have the
desired effect so long as intra-Community trade is hindered by differ-
ences between the health requirements of Member States concerning
meat products; whereas, in particular with a view to eliminating thesedifferences, common provisions should be laid down in this field;
Whereas, in order to avoid the spread of epizootic diseases by means of
meat products it should be laid down that the meat from which some ofthe said meat products are manufactured should comply with the health
provisions applicable to fresh meat;
Whereas care should be taken that meat products which do not comply
with Community rules are not given the health mark provided for inthose rules;
Whereas when meat products have been treated in such a way as to
destroy all germs of diseases which may be passed on to animals,
such treatment should be mentioned on the health certificate which
accompanies the products concerned;
Whereas the Member States must have the right to refuse the entry into
free circulation in their territory of meat products which have beenfound to contain germs of a contagious or infectious disease or whichdo not comply with Community health provisions;
Whereas the consignor should at his own request or at that of a repre-
sentative be allowed to have the meat products returned to him unlessthere are health grounds for not doing so;
Whereas, in order to enable those concerned to appreciate the basis for
any prohibition or restriction imposed, the reasons for such prohibitionor restriction should be brought to the notice of the consignor or his
representative and, in certain cases, the competent authorities of the
consigning country;
Whereas the consignor should be afforded the opportunity of requesting
the opinion of a veterinary expert in the event of a dispute between theconsignor and the authorities of the country of destination as towhether a prohibition or restriction is justified;
Whereas the Member States must have the right to prohibit the intro-
duction into their territory of certain meat products from a MemberState where an epizootic disease has broken out; whereas, dependingon the nature and character of this epizootic disease, such a prohibitionmay either be limited to meat products coming from a part of the terri-tory of the exporting country, or extended to the whole of that territory;
whereas, in the event of an outbreak of a contagious or infectious
disease in the territory of a Member State appropriate measures mustbe taken rapidly to control it; whereas the dangers inherent in such1980L0215 — EN — 01.11.1980 — 001.001 — 2
(1) OJ No C 114, 11. 11. 1971, p. 40.
(2) OJ No L 26, 31. 1. 1977, p. 85.
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diseases and the requisite protective measures should be viewed in the
same light throughout the Community;
Whereas, to facilitate the implementation of the provisions envisaged, a
procedure should be laid down establishing close cooperation between
the Member States and the Commission within the Standing VeterinaryCommittee set upby the Council Decision of 15 October 1968(
1),
HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
This Directive lays down animal health requirements for intra-Commu-
nity trade in meat products.
Article 2
For the purposes of this Directive, the definitions contained in Article 2
of Council Directive 72/461/EEC of 12 December 1972 on healthproblems affecting intra-Community trade in fresh meat(
2), as amended
by Directive 78/54/EEC(3), and in Article 2 of Directive 77/99/EEC
shall apply where relevant.
Products which have been subjected to natural fermentation and
maturation for a long period shall be regarded as having undergonecomplete treatment until the Council, acting unanimously on a proposalby the Commission, amends the limits given in Annex A, Chapter V(27) (b) to Directive 77/99/EEC.
Article 3
Each Member State shall ensure that meat products intended for intra-
Community trade are prepared from or with:
— fresh meat as defined in Article 1 of Council Directive 64/433/EEC
of 26 June 1964 on health problems affecting intra-Communitytrade in fresh meat(
4), as last amended by Directive 75/379/
EEC(5), and fulfilling the animal health requirements of Articles 3
and 4 of Directive 72/461/EEC,
— fresh meat as defined in Article 2 (a) of Council Directive 72/462/
EEC of 12 December 1972 on health and veterinary inspection
problems upon importation of bovine animals and swine and freshmeat from third countries(
6), as last amended by Directive 77/98/
EEC(7), and complying with the animal health requirements of
Directive 72/462/EEC.
Article 4
1. By way of derogation from the first indent of Article 3, and
subject to the application of paragraph 2, meat products may be
intended for intra-Community trade, which are prepared in whole or
in part from or with fresh meat as defined in Article 1 of Directive64/433/EEC which fulfils the requirements laid down by Article 5a ofDirective 72/461/EEC, may enter intra-Community trade if they havealso undergone one of the following forms of treatment:
(a) heat treatment in a hermetically sealed container, with an Fc value
of 3·00 or more;1980L0215 — EN — 01.11.1980 — 001.001 — 3
(1) OJ No L 255, 28. 10. 1968, p. 23.
(2) OJ No L 302, 31. 12. 1972, p. 24.
(3) OJ No L 16, 20. 1. 1978, p. 22.
(4) OJ No 121, 29. 7. 1964, p. 2012/64.
(5) OJ No L 172, 3. 7. 1975, p. 17.
(6) OJ No L 302, 31. 12. 1972, p. 28.
(7) OJ No L 26, 31. 1. 1977, p. 81.
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(b) where the fresh meat has been obtained from animals which do not
come from an infected holding subject to prohibition measurespursuant to Article 3 (2) (b) of Directive 64/432/EEC:
(i) heat treatment different from that referred to in (a) in which the
internal temperature is raised to at least 70 ºC, or
(ii)►
M1provided that, in addition, the disease in question is not
swine vesicular disease, ◄treatment consisting in natural
fermentation and maturation of not less than nine months forboned or boneless hams weighing not less than 5·5 kg and
having the following characteristics:
—a
wvalue of not more than 0·93,
— pH value of not more than 6.
2. Each Member State shall ensure that:
(a) the fresh meat referred to in paragraph 1 is:
(i) transported and stored separately from, or not at the same time
as, the fresh meat referred to in Article 3,
(ii) used in such a way as to avoid it being introduced into meat
products intended for intra-Community trade other than those
indicated in paragraph 1;
(b) the health certificate specified in Annex A, Chapter VIII of Direc-
tive 77/99/EEC contains, without prejudice to footnote (3) of that
certificate, the following words under the heading ‘Nature ofproducts’: ‘Treated in accordance with Article 4 (1) of Directive80/215/EEC’.
Article 5
1. Member States shall ensure that meat products which do not fulfil
the requirements of Articles 3 and 4 are not given the health mark
provided for in Directive 77/99/EEC, Annex A, Chapter VII.
2. The country of destination may prohibit the entry of meat
products into circulation in its territory if it has been established that
Articles 3 and 4 have not been complied with.
3. In such case, the country of destination must, at the request of the
consignor or his representative, authorize the return of the whole
consignment of meat products, provided that this is not contrary to
animal health considerations.
4. The competent authority of the country of destination may order
the consignment to be destroyed at the expense of the consignor, the
consignee or their representative without indemnification by the State,where entry into circulation is prohibited pursuant to paragraph 2 andwhere the exporting country or country of transit, as the case may be,does not authorize return of the consignment.
5. The decisions taken by the competent authority under paragraphs
2, 3 and 4 must be communicated to the consignor or his representa-tive, together with the reasons for such decisions. Where theconsignor or his representative so requests, these decisions and the
grounds on which they have been taken must be communicated to
him forthwith in writing with an indication of the remedies for whichcurrent legislation makes provision, their forms and the time limitswithin which they are open. The decisions must also be communicatedto the competent central authority of the exporting country.
Article 6
1. This Directive shall not affect the remedies for which legislation
current in Member States makes provision against the decisions of the
competent authorities referred to in this Directive.
2. In the case of meat products which may not enter circulation
pursuant to Articles 3 and 4, each Member State shall grant consignorsthe right to obtain the opinion of a veterinary expert.1980L0215 — EN — 01.11.1980 — 001.001 — 4
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Each Member State shall ensure that, before the competent authorities
take any other measures such as destroying the meat products, theveterinary expert has an opportunity of determining whether the condi-
tions of Articles 3 and 4 have been fulfilled.
The veterinary expert must be a national of a Member State other than
the exporting country or the country of destination.
Acting on a proposal from the Member States, the Commission shall
draw upa list of the veterinary exp erts who may be instructed toformulate such opinions. After consulting the Member States, it shalllay down the general rules which are to be applied, in particular asregards the procedure for formulating these opinions.
Article 7
1. A Member State may take the following measures if there is a
danger that animal diseases may be spread by the introduction of meatproducts from another Member State into its territory:
(a) in the event of an outbreak of classical foot and mouth disease,
classical swine fever ►
M1, swine vesicular disease ◄or
Teschen disease in the other Member State, the introduction ofproducts prepared from the meat of animals which are susceptibleto these diseases, other than products which have undergone one ofthe treatments referred to in Article 4 (1), may be temporarily
prohibited or restricted from those parts of the territory of the
Member State in which the disease has appeared;
(b) if an epizootic disease becomes widespread or if there is an
outbreak of another serious and contagious or infectious animal
disease, the introduction, from the entire territory of that State, ofproducts prepared from the meat of animals which are susceptibleto these diseases may be temporarily prohibited or restricted.
2. Each Member State must notify the other Member States and the
Commission without delay of the outbreak in its territory of anydisease referred to in paragraph 1 and of the measures it has taken tocombat it. It must also notify them without delay of the disappearanceof the disease.
3. Measures taken by a Member State under paragraph 1, and repeal
thereof, must be communicated without delay to the other MemberStates and to the Commission, together with the reasons for suchaction.
It may be decided, according to the procedure laid down in Article 8,
that these measures should be amended, in particular to ensure coordi-nation with those adopted by the other Member States, or abolished.
4. If the situation provided for in paragraph 1 arises and if it seems
necessary that other Member States should also apply the measures
taken pursuant to the said paragraph, together with any amendments
made in accordance with paragraph 3, the appropriate provisions shallbe adopted according to the procedure defined in Article 8.
5. In drawing upthe amendments referred to in the second subp ara-
graph of paragraph 3, or the provisions referred to in paragraph 4, a
decision may be taken in accordance with the same procedure to adapt
them in the light of the disease in question, the treatments that theproducts concerned have undergone, the date on which the meat usedwas obtained and the processing period.
Article 8
1. Where the procedure laid down in this Article is to be followed,
the matter shall be referred to the Standing Veterinary Committee(hereinafter called ‘the Committee’), set upby the Council Decisionof 15 October 1968, by its chairman, either on his own initiative or atthe request of a Member State.1980L0215 — EN — 01.11.1980 — 001.001 — 5
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2. Within the Committee, the votes of the Member States shall be
weighted as provided in Article 148 (2) of the Treaty. The chairmanshall not vote.
3. The Commission representative shall submit a draft of the
measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on themeasures within two days. Opinions shall be delivered by a majorityof 41 votes.
4. Where the measures are in accordance with the opinion of the
Committee, the Commission shall adopt them and shall apply them
immediately. Where they are not in accordance with the opinion of
the Committee, or if no opinion is delivered, the Commission shallwithout delay submit to the Council a proposal on the measures to betaken. The Council shall adopt the measures by a qualified majority.
If the Council has not adopted any measures within 15 days of the date
on which the proposal was submitted to it, the Commission shall adopt
the measures proposed and shall apply them immediately, save where
the Council has decided against them by a simple majority.
Article 9
Article 8 shall apply until 21 June 1981.
Article 10
With regard to swine fever, Member States which have availed them-
selves of the authorization laid down in Directive 80/218/EEC and
which are officially classical swine fever-free may not oppose the
introduction into their territory of meat products which, although theyhave not undergone one of the forms of treatment referred to in Article4 (1), have been prepared in whole or in part from fresh pigmeat whichsatisfies the requirements laid down in Article 13 a of Directive 72/
461/EEC, or from fresh pigmeat obtained from pigs vaccinated against
swine fever more than three months prior to slaughter.
Article 11
1. Acting on a proposal from the Commission, the Council shall lay
down the animal health requirements applicable to intra-Communitytrade in fresh poultrymeat and to imports of such poultrymeat from
third countries.
2. Pending the entry into force of the Community provisions
referred to in paragraph 1, national animal health provisions concerningthe import of meat products prepared in part or in whole from or withfresh poultrymeat shall remain applicable while complying with thegeneral provisions of the Treaty.
Article 12
Until the implementation of Community animal health Directives
concerning imports of meat products other than those referred to inArticle 11 (2) from third countries, national provisions applicable tothe import of these products shall not be more favourable than thosewhich result from this Directive.
Article 13
The Member States shall bring into force the measures necessary to
comply with:
— the second indent of Article 3, on the date provided for in the
second subparagraph of Article 32 (2) of Directive 72/462/EEC,
— the other provisions of this Directive, by 31 December 1980 at the
latest,
and shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.1980L0215 — EN — 01.11.1980 — 001.001 — 6
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Article 14
This Directive is addressed to the Member States.1980L0215 — EN — 01.11.1980 — 001.001 — 7