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 Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin

2000/0179 (COD)

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 Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin

1. BACKGROUND

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council

(document COM(2000)438 final - 2000/179(COD): // 14 July 2000.

Date of the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee: // 28 March 2001

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: // 15 May 2002.

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: // 28 January 2003.

Date of adoption of the common position: // 27 October 2003

(unanimously).

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL

Second proposal of a package of five proposals consolidating and updating current Community rules on food hygiene.

It aims in particular to recast Community rules on the hygiene of food of animal origin. It contains rules for meat and meat products, fishery products, bivalve molluscs, milk and milk products, eggs and egg products, and their by-products for human consumption.

The main purpose of the proposal is to simplify existing rules.

3. COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

3.1. General comment

At the plenary meeting on 15 May 2002, the Commission indicated that it could accept most of the amendments wholly or in part, and subject to drafting amendments, except 8, 17, 33, 38, 44, 55, 58, 65, 69, 101, 116 and 132.

An important effort has been made by the Council to meet the European Parliament's concerns in this technically complicated dossier. Although the Council has not always been able to introduce the amendments in the same editorial format as that resulting from the Parliament's opinion, it must be considered that care has been taken to respect the objectives pursued by the Parliament. The amendments that were accepted by the Commission have been largely taken into account.

3.2. Relation with Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 (General Food Law)

Amendments 3, 4, 6, 14, 60, 78, 79, 111, 112, 120 and 128 aim to bring the proposal in line with Regulation (EC) No 178/2002.

The objective pursued by these amendments has been taken into account in the relevant parts of the common position.

3.3. Transfer of requirements from Annexes to Articles

A number of amendments aim to ensure that basic requirements of food law appear in the Articles and not in the Annex.

The objectives pursued by these amendments have been taken into account in the common position as follows:(in Articles 1, 4, 8 and 3 respectively).

* Amendment 5 on the scope of the proposal is included in Article 1 of the common position;

* Amendment 11 on the general obligations of food business operators is included in Article 3 of the common position;

* Amendment 10 on salmonella guarantees is included in Article 8 of the common position;

* Amendments 7, 57, 77, 98, 110 and 125 on the approval of food businesses are included in Article 4 of the common position;

* Amendment 6 (last part) aims to ensure that the definitions in Annex I cannot be amended through comitology. The aim of that amendment is achieved through Article 10(1) of the common position that excludes Annex I from being amended using the comitology procedure.

3.4. Health marking

Amendments 8 and 58 (not accepted by the Commission) would impose a health mark to be applied to all types of meat. In the common position, the Council did not accept that all meat should receive a health mark, but only that red meat where the official veterinarian plays a special role in meat inspection. All other meat and all other products of animal origin should receive an identification mark instead to be applied under the responsibility of the food business operator.

Article 5 of the common position reflects that situation.

3.5. Flexibility

Amendment 9 offers possibilities for granting flexibility for traditional methods of production and for remote areas.

Article 11(3)-(7) of the common position reflects the objective pursued by amendment 9.

3.6. Date of entry into force

Amendment 15 makes the Regulation applicable "one year after its entry into force". The same amendment has been introduced for the other proposals of the package so as to ensure that the date of application is identical for the four proposals concerned.

The main concern of the Council with regard to this proposal was to ensure that all the proposals of the package apply from the same date and that Member States are given enough time to adapt to the new situation. The Council therefore decided that for all the proposals of the package the measures should apply 18 months after entry into force and at the earliest on 1 January 2006. Article 18 of the Common position reflects that position.

Although the date of application in the common position is not identical to the one proposed in amendment 15 of the European Parliament, it must considered that the objectives pursued by the Council do not conflict with the objectives pursued by the European Parliament in the amendments on this subject in the different proposals of the package.

3.7. Review clause

The proposal does not contain a review clause. Amendment 13 (last part) aims to introduce such clause (review of the entire corpus of the annexes at least every five years!). The Commission has rejected this amendment.

Article 14 of the common position partly follows the European Parliament.

3.8. Game meat

The amendments of the European Parliament aim to:

- better define the scope (by excluding direct deliveries from the scope, although amendment 132 - rejected by the Commission - reintroduces hygiene requirements for such deliveries),

- take into account hunting traditions in different Member States.

18 amendments were tabled to that effect (18, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98).

In the common position, the exclusion of direct deliveries from the scope of the Regulation is achieved in Article 1(3)(e), thus implementing amendment 82.

The Council further considered that amendment 97 on the exclusion of private game handling establishments from the scope of the Regulation is already covered by amendment 82.

It also considered that the matter covered by amendment 88 (on the responsibility of hunters) is covered in a general way in Regulation (EC) No 178/2002.

The other amendments have not always systematically been taken into account in the common position, but it must be considered that the overall result achieves the objectives of the European Parliament.

3.9. Live bivalve mollucs

The Council believes that amendments 20 and 115 on the use of clean seawater in the production of live bivalve molluscs is covered in a general way in the common position on the first proposal of the package [2000/178 (COD) on the hygiene of foodstuffs], in particular in its Article 2, point 1(g).

3.10. Transfer of issues to proposal 2000/0180(COD) ("hygiene 3")

In the common position, questions for which the competence belongs to the competent authority have been referred to the third proposal of the package [2002/0141(COD) laying down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin]. These concern in particular:

* the procedures on food imports (Annex III of the second proposal of the package). The common position on the second proposal defines instead the obligations of the food business operators with regard to food imports (Article 6). Import procedures are now integrated in Articles 10-15 of the common position on the third proposal of the package. This affects amendment 12

* Health marking, now integrated in Chapter III of Section I of Annex I to the third proposal of the package. This affects amendment 28.

This is a logical consequence of the philosophy in the White Paper on Food Safety that there must be a clear distinction between the obligations of the competent authorities and those of the food business operators.

3.11. Other technical and editorial amendments

The other amendments that were accepted by the Commission aim to improve the proposal from a technical and editorial point of view. As regards the common position on these amendments, the following remarks can be made:

With regard to reindeer slaughter (amendment 41), the Council considered that any slaughterhouse, including mobile slaughterhouses, fulfilling the criteria of the Regulation is eligible for reindeer slaughter. It is therefore not necessary to make a special provision for reindeer.

With regard to amendment 107, the common position does not explicitly prohibit the use of ruminant material for the production of mechanically separated meat. The Council argues that it is not necessary to repeat the ban on the use of such material already provided for in Regulation (EC) No 999/2001.

4. CONCLUSION

The common position is broadly compatible with the amendments of the European Parliament. The Commission is satisfied therefore to accept the common position.

5. DECLARATIONS CONCERNING THE COMMON POSITION

Article 1 - Scope

The Commission considers that, as in the Regulation on the hygiene of foodstuffs, the exclusion of the direct supply, by the producer, of small quantities of primary products and of meat from poultry and lagomorphs to the final consumer or to local retail establishments also applies to primary production leading to such supply.

Article 8 - Salmonella guarantees

The Commission will not propose any measure that would reduce the level of protection provided by the guarantees granted to Finland and Sweden upon their accession to the Community.

Article 11(6) & Annex III, Section VII - Live bivalve molluscs

The Council and the Commission stress the importance of the use of harmonised methods to test for compliance with the limit values for marine biotoxins in live bivalve molluscs. They note that adoption of the Regulation will not affect existing requirements, which will remain in place until new requirements are laid down through comitology.

Article 11(9) - Histamine

The Commission declares that its proposals on microbiological criteria, which are already under preparation, will include proposals for limits with regard to histamine in fishery products.

Annex I - Definitions

The UK delegation welcomes the statement given by the Commission that it will seek new scientific advice on minced meat, meat preparations and mechanically separated meat (MSM).

In the interim, the UK believes the definition of MSM used for the purpose of this Regulation may lead to problems of interpretation and enforcement. Should this be the case, the UK delegation would expect the Commission to find a solution through the comitology procedure.

Annex II, Section III - Food chain information

The Commission will make proposals on food chain information as a matter of priority, so that these may be adopted through comitology before the new hygiene legislation takes effect. The proposals will include guidelines for standardised declarations that primary producers could complete and sign rather than providing verbatim extracts from their records. The Commission will consider whether it would be appropriate to propose a standard format or formats for such declarations for intra-Community trade in live animals.

Annex III, Section I - Emergency slaughter

The Commission declares that, when it reports to the European Parliament and to the Council to review the experience gained from the implementation of the Regulation as provided for in Article 14, it will discuss in particular the issue of emergency slaughter. If appropriate, it will accompany the report with relevant proposals.

Annex III, Section IV - Wild game

In order to ensure that the Regulation achieves the objective of enhancing food safety and consumer protection, the Commission will review the new rules concerning the responsibilities of trained hunters as a matter of priority. In particular, the Commission will examine the rules allowing trained hunters to decide, in certain circumstances, that certain viscera need not accompany wild game to the game handling establishment for post-mortem inspection, and will consider whether more stringent control requirements are necessary depending on the scale of the hunting operation. It will, if appropriate, propose amendments to these rules.

Annex III, Section V - Minced meat, meat preparations and MSM

The Commission will, as soon as possible, seek new scientific advice on minced meat, meat preparations and mechanically separated meat (MSM) and, if appropriate, propose modifications to Section V of Annex III through comitology. It will also consider the need to amend the labelling rules in the light of the definition of MSM adopted for the purposes of hygiene legislation.

Annex III, Section VII - Live bivalve molluscs

The Regulation will not permit the re-immersing live bivalve molluscs in water, or their spraying with water, after they have been packaged for retail sale. However, the Commission will propose flexibility through comitology if it can be demonstrated that systems not respecting this rule do not endanger food hygiene.

Annex III, Section VIII - Fishery products

The Commission declares that, when it reports to the European Parliament and to the Council to review the experience gained from the implementation of the Regulation as provided for in Article 14, it will discuss in particular the issue of exemptions from the requirement to freeze certain fishery products in accordance with Annex III, Section VIII, Chapter III, Part D.

If appropriate, it will accompany the report with relevant proposals.

The Commission will review the rules on the storage and transport of fishery products in cooled water and, if appropriate, make relevant proposals.

Annex III, Section IX, Chapter I, Part I, paragraph 3(b) - Milk

The Commission will consider the need for new scientific advice on cheeses with a maturation period of at least two months and on the use of the phosphatase test with milk from sheep and goats.

The UK delegation remains unconvinced that there are scientifically sound public health grounds to justify the prohibition of the use of milk from tuberculosis or brucellosis reactors. The stated intention of the legislation is to modernise food hygiene controls and maintain only those with public health benefit. In this case heat treatment of milk eliminates the organisms of concern.

Annex III, Section X - Eggs and egg products

The Commission will submit a report to the Council (together, if appropriate, with proposals) discussing the introduction of flexibility regarding the time limit for the delivery of eggs to consumers and the possibility of linking the time limit to storage temperatures. It will, if appropriate, seek scientific advice on these issues.

The Commission will review the analytical specifications for egg products contained in Annex III, Section X, Chapter II, Part IV, and make appropriate proposals.