COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on undesirable substances in animal feed

1- BACKGROUND

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council (document COM(1999) 654 final - 1999/0259 (COD)): // 17.12.1999

Date of the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee: // 29.3.2000

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: // 4.10.2000

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: // 19.12.2000

Date of adoption of the common position: // 17.9.2001

2- OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL

Council Directive 1999/29/EC lays down maximum permitted levels for undesirable substances and products in feed materials and feedingstuffs. Feed materials and feedingstuffs which do not comply with the maximum limits may not be put into circulation.

Council Directive 1999/29/EC of 22 April 1999 on the undesirable substances and products in animal nutrition [1] is a legal consolidation of Directive 74/63/EEC, frequently amended.

[1] OJ L 115, 4.5.1999, p. 32.

Directive 1999/29/EC provides that feed materials which do not comply with the maximum limits may be used in compound feedingstuffs on condition that the maximum level laid down for the compound feedingstuffs is complied with. Furthermore Member States were authorised to derogate from the maximum limits in the case of fodder used without further processing on the farm that produced it, where this is necessary for particular local reasons and on the condition that neither animal or human health will suffer harm thereby.

The current proposal amends substantially Council Directive 1999/29/EC introducing a new text, repealing the Directive 1999/29. This proposal was announced in the work program, submitted to the Agriculture Council in July 1999 and presented to the European Parliament in order to address weaknesses in existing Community legislation for animal feedingstuffs, highlighted during the dioxin crisis in 1999.

The introduced main modifications can be summarised as follows:

- extension of the scope of the Directive to include the possibility of establishing maximum limits for undesirable substances in feed additives.

- deleting of the existing possibility to dilute contaminated feed materials instead of decontamination or destruction (introduction of the principle of non-dilution).

- deleting of the possibility for derogation of the maximum limits for particular local reasons.

- introducing the possibility of the establishment of an action threshold triggering an investigation to identify the source of contamination ("early warning system") and to take measures to reduce or eliminate the contamination ("pro-active approach").

3- COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

The Commission can accept all the Council's amendments for the following reasons:

1. The replacement of the term "undesirable substances or products" by "undesirable substances": the definition of undesirable substances in Article 2 (l) clearly indicates that undesirable products are included in the term "undesirable substances".

2. The replacement of the term "materials intended for animal nutrition" by "products intended for animal feed": the proposed term avoids any possible confusion.

3. Insertion of a new recital (4) concerning the quality and safety of water consumed by the animals: it is indeed appropriate and necessary that the water consumed by the animals is safe. The Commission did already announce at the occasion of the first reading in the European Parliament to examine the issue of water to be considered as feedingstuff in the framework of Directive 96/25/EC.

4. Deletion of recital 15 of Commission's amended proposal COM(2000)861 referring to the information system between Member States if a non-compliance is observed: The article as well the corresponding recital are no longer necessary in this Directive as the information system has been improved and extended by Council Directive 2001/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2001 amending Council Directive 95/53/EC fixing the principles governing the organisation of official inspections in the field of animal nutrition and Directives 70/524/EEC, 96/25/EC and 1999/29/EC on animal nutrition [2].

[2] OJ L 234, 1.9.2001, p. 55.

5. Article 1(2): the reference to specific acts of the relevant legislation instead of referring to the provisions on relevant subjects renders the text more accurate and avoids any confusion.

6. Article 2 Definitions: the definition of "consignment" and "pet animals" has been deleted as no longer reference is made to these terms in the text.

7. Article 3(1): the addition of "enter for use in the Community from third countries" ensures that also the entering from third countries for use in the Community is covered besides the putting into circulation and use. The term "sound genuine and of merchantable quality" has been specified as products not representing any danger to human, health, animal health or to the environment or which could adversely affect livestock production when correctly used.

8. Article 4 (2): the provisions concerning the introduction of a concept of action thresholds has been made clearer and a provision has been included to ensure that all relevant information is transmitted to the Commission and the other Member States.

9. Article 8: the provisions of this Article have been rearranged in order to make them more clear. Furthermore the possible defining of criteria for the acceptability has been extended to the detoxification processes in addition to the detoxified products and an additional provision has been inserted ensuring the correct application of detoxification processes and the conformity of the detoxified products.

10. Deletion of the former Article 10: see explanation under point 4.

11. Insertion of the new Article 10: the prior consultation of the appropriate Scientific Committees for provisions affecting public or animal health is a necessary and appropriate provision.

12. Article 13 (2): the provision concerning the return the country of origin of contaminated products produced outside the European Community has been made clearer.

13. The deletion of the distinction in the Annex between "substances", "products" and "botanical impurities": this modification is in line with proposed modification under point 1.

4- CONCLUSION

The Commission accepts the common position of the Council because it respects both the spirit of the Commission's proposal and most of the amendments adopted by the European Parliament on first reading.