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 rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin for human consumption

2002/0141 (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 rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin for human consumption

1. BACKGROUND

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

[document COM(2002)377 final - 2002/0141(COD)]: // 11 July 2002.

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee: // 26 February 2003.

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: // 5 June 2003.

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: // 22 October 2003.

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

(unanimously).

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL

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

Main purpose of the proposal is to make the existing rules on official controls on the hygiene of food of animal origin more science- and risk-based, and to introduce the main principles of food law (farm-to-table principle, definition of the obligations of the competent authorities). The products that are affected by the proposal are meat, fishery products, bivalve molluscs, and milk.

3. COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

3.1. General comment

At the plenary meeting on 5 June 2003, the Commission indicated that:

- It can accept the following amendments wholly or partly subject to editorial amendment: 3, 5, 7, 11, 12, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 34, 35, 41, 45, 47, 49, 51, 56, 57, 61, 66, 85, 96, 104, 110, 116, 120, 121, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 138, 141, and

- It cannot accept the following amendments: 2, 4, 6, 10, 14, 15, 21 (point 6), 25, 30, 31, 33, 36, 37, 38, 44, 46, 55, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 83, 86, 87 (partly), 88 (partly), 90, 100, 101, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107, 109, 112, 114, 117, 118, 119, 122 (partly), 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 135, 136, 137, 139, 140, 143.

- It can accept all other amendments.

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.

The Council's common position also includes a number of provisions that are consistent with the aim of amendments that the Commission initially rejected. Since the formulation of these provisions takes account of the Commission's concerns, it was able to accept them.

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

The Commission has refused amendments 4, 25 and 70 on inspection costs, identical sanctions in case of non-compliance, and the right of appeal respectively. The Council has followed the Commission in these matters.

However, in Article 9 of the common position, the Council has introduced elements of amendment 25 (action in case of non-compliance). This is acceptable to the Commission since it leaves the decision on the nature of the action to be taken in case of non-compliance with the Member States.

3.3. Transfer of requirements from Annexes to Articles

Amendment 21 aims to ensure that basic requirements of food law appear in the Articles and not in the Annex.

The objective pursued by this amendment has been taken into account in Article 5 of the common position. The Council did however not include point 6 of amendment 21 (which limits the role of slaughterhouse staff with regard to inspections to poultry and rabbit meat) in the common position. The Council follows herewith the Commission's position on amendment 21.

3.4. Flexibility for small businesses and artisanal production

Amendments 3 and 138 offer possibilities for granting flexibility for small businesses, traditional methods of production and for remote areas.

Recital 4 and paragraphs 4 to 7 of Article 17 of the common position reflect the objective pursued by these amendments.

Amendment 15 introducing a definition of small artisanal business (not accepted by the Commission) was not followed by the Council.

3.5. Comitology

Amendments 116, 120, 130 and 131 concern comitology (amendment of Annexes, implementing rules and transitional measures). In the common position these issues are covered in Articles 16, 17 and 18.

3.6. Imports

The amendments 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 34 and 35 aim at introducing in the proposal requirements for imports that were previously contained in Annex III of proposal 'Hygiene 2' [COM (2000)438 2000/0179COD]. In the common position, these issues are covered in Articles 10-15 (subject to redrafting).

3.7. Food chain information

A number of amendments aim at introducing flexibility in the system of food chain information (information from the farm that has to accompany the animals to slaughter). The amendments hereto accepted by the Commission are numbers 47, 48, 49 and 51.

Since many of the requirements on food chain information belong to the duties of food business operators, the Council decided to transfer them to "Hygiene 2" [COM (2000)438 2000/0179COD], taking into account the above amendments. These amendments have therefore been taken into account in Section of Annex II of "Hygiene 2".

3.8. Health marking

The Council introduced the principles of amendment 61 on health marking of fresh meat, partly accepted by the Commission and subject to editorial amendments, in Chapter III of Section I of Annex I of the common position.

The Council did not take into account amendments 62, 63, 64 and 65 (rejected by the Commission). The Council and the Commission believe that the health mark must be reserved for red meat, whilst the amendments of the European Parliament would extend its use to poultry and rabbit meat. With regard to amendment 60 (also rejected by the Commission), its aim to clarify that the official auxiliary may supervise health marking has been introduced in the common position.

3.9. Visual post-mortem inspection

On the basis of scientific advice (SCVPH), the possibility of visual post-mortem inspection of certain categories of fattening pigs had been introduced in the Commission proposal. That visual inspection would replace the detailed inspection (with incisions and palpation) that is applied under the current rules. Amendment 109 eliminates the possibility for a visual inspection and was therefore not accepted by the Commission. The Council followed the Commission proposal and did not take amendment 109 into account.

3.10. Company staff with official inspection tasks

The Commission text provides for the possibility for company staff to perform certain control activities. A number of amendments seriously interfere with the principle of involving company staff in control activities. These are 81, 100, 127, 135, 136, 139 and 140. They were not accepted by the Commission and not taken into account by the Council.

With regard to amendment 83, the Commission and the Council rejected the part concerning the slaughterhouse staff, but the common position is consistent with the other part.

Amendment 87 introduces some conditions for involving company staff in official controls. The Commission accepted certain elements of that amendment. In the common position, these elements are integrated in paragraph 6 of Article 5 and in Annex I, Section III, Chapter III, point A(2)(d).

3.11. The presence of the veterinarian in small slaughterhouses

Amendment 85, accepted by the Commission subject to editorial changes, states that the presence of the official veterinarian in small slaughterhouses should be based on an analysis of risks.

In the common position, this element is integrated in point 2 of Chapter II of Section III to Annex I.

3.12. Training

A large number of amendments that deal with the training requirements for official veterinarians and official auxiliaries have been accepted by the Commission. These are the amendments 88 (partly), 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 and 99.

Annex I, Section III, Chapter IV.B of the common position is consistent with these amendments.

3.13. Live bivalve molluscs and fishery products

The amendments on this subject that have been accepted by the Commission (amendments 121 and 124) are reflected in Article 18 (with regard to testing of molluscs) and in Annex III, Chapter I (with regard to official controls of aquaculture animals).

The Council also took into account elements of amendment 122 (partly accepted by the Commission) in order to take account of flexibility with regard to sampling of live bivalve molluscs.

3.14. 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.

In general, the Council has taken these amendments into account.

4. CONCLUSION

The common position is broadly compatible with the amendments of the European Parliament that were accepted by the Commission. The aim of certain amendments that were not accepted by the Commission has nevertheless been taken into account in the common position, apart from those on:

- The involvement of slaughterhouse staff in meat inspection,

- Health marking of meat,

- Visual inspection of certain types of pig meat.

5. DECLARATIONS CONCERNING THE COMMON POSITION

Article 3(7)

The Commission will examine how national lists of approved establishments are to be made available on the internet, as well as the minimum frequency for their updating and, if appropriate, make relevant proposals.

Article 5(6)

Sweden welcomes the extension of the work of company-employed auxiliaries which this proposal brings compared with the present situation. However, Sweden regrets that company-employed auxiliaries are not placed on a completely equal footing with official auxiliaries as regards their work tasks - despite the requirement that both categories must have the same training and competence and must work under the supervision of an official veterinarian. Sweden furthermore welcomes the opportunity to update the present rules through the committee procedure and expects the Commission swiftly to review the rules with a view to facilitating an extension of the system of company auxiliaries so that the latter are given equivalence with official auxiliaries.

Article 15(2)

The Commission confirms that factory and freezer vessels will always be listed under the name of their flag State, even when another State carries out inspections of the vessel concerned in accordance with Article 15(2)(b).

Article 17(6)

The Commission declares that, whenever it consults Member States within the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health in accordance with Article 17(6), it will do so without undue delay.

Article 21 - Reviews

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 21, it will discuss in particular whether:

(a) different national approaches to staffing levels create problems for food safety;

(b) it would be opportune to increase the minimum training requirements for official auxiliaries;

(c) it would be appropriate to widen the scope of the rules permitting the slaughter of farmed game at the place of production.

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

Annex I, Section III, Chapter IV, Part B

The Commission will consider whether it would be feasible and desirable to extend Annex I, Section III, Chapter IV, Part B, paragraph 8, to cases where official auxiliaries carry out other sampling and analysis tasks and, if appropriate, make relevant proposals.

Annex I, Section IV, Chapter IX, Part A

The Commission will seek scientific advice on whether it would be possible to certify regions as officially free of cysticercus and, if appropriate, propose the adoption of modifications to Annex I through comitology.

Charging for the cost of official controls

The Council and the Commission affirm that the Regulation will not affect Member States' ability to recover costs connected with official controls from food business operators in accordance with the Directive on veterinary fees, pending the adoption of the official feed and food controls Regulation.

Animal welfare

Sweden regards it as essential that all animals arriving for slaughter be inspected by an official veterinarian to establish that the animals have not suffered during transport. Sweden furthermore considers that an official veterinarian should be present during slaughter in order inter alia to monitor animal protection as regards stunning and bleeding. The request for the presence of official veterinarians is important not least in order to preserve consumer confidence in the treatment of animals in connection with the production of meat and meat products. Sweden considers that exceptions should only be made for small slaughterhouses to which transport distances are short.

Official food and feed controls Regulation

The Council and the Commission agree that, in order to avoid redundancies, the adoption of the Regulation on official feed and food controls should lead to the deletion of the corresponding rules provided for in the Regulation laying down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption, insofar as the more general rules provide the same high level of protection of public health. This may affect in particular the provisions:

- on the approval of establishments, including conditional approval;

- on national enforcement measures;

- setting out guarantees that third countries' competent authorities must provide to be able to export food to the Community; and

- for official controls to verify compliance with microbiological criteria for foodstuffs and food production.

Moreover, the Council and the Commission agree that the date of application of the Regulation on official food and feed controls should be as close as possible to that of the Regulation laying down specific rules for official controls on products of animal origin.