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 on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council Directive amending Council Directive 79/373/EEC on the marketing of compound feedingstuffs

2000/0015 (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 on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council Directive amending Council Directive 79/373/EEC on the marketing of compound feedingstuffs

I. PROCEDURE

1. On 7 January 2000, the Commission submitted to the European Parliament and to the council a proposal pursuant to Article 251 (2) and Article 152 of the EC Treaty (COM(1999)744 Final - 2000/0015 (COD)), amending the Directive 79/373/EEC on the marketing of compound feedingstuffs [1].

[1] OJ L 86, 6.4.1979, p. 30.

2. The Economic and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 29 March 2000 [2].

[2] OJ C 140, 18.5.2000, p. 12.

3. On 13 September 2000, the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development adopted the zu Baringdorf report and approved the Commission proposal with 5 amendments.

4. The European Parliament on its plenary session of 2-6 October 2000 approved the proposal of the Commission with 5 amendments in first reading.

5. The Commission accepted 4 of the 5 amendments of the European Parliament, which were taken up in the amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive [3].

[3] COM(2000)780 in habilitation procedure (PH(2000)5349).

6. At its meeting on 19 December 2000, the Council adopted its common position in accordance with Article 251 of the EC Treaty.

II. PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSAL

Council Directive 79/373/EEC on the circulation of compound feedingstuffs lays down rules on the labelling of compound feedingstuffs.

The purpose of the proposal is to ensure that stock farmers are informed about the composition of compound feedingstuffs imposing a compulsory declaration of detailed quantitative and qualitative information ("open declaration").

The amendments to Directive 79/373/EEC seek to:

1. List all ingredients used in manufacturing compound feedingstuffs, indicating for each of them the quantity present in the feedingstuff.

2. Remove the possibility of declaring materials by category of ingredients.

3. Report the batch production number.

III. COMMISSION POSITION WITH REGARD TO THE COUNCIL COMMON POSITION

The most discussed issue for achieving a common position has been the opposition of most of the Member States in the declaration of the exact quantity of ingredients present in the compound feedingstuff.

The Council and the Commission agreed to mention each of the ingredients, with their exact denomination, within 5 percentage bands.

IV. CONCLUSIONS

Council also accepted the four amendments of the European Parliament accepted by the Commission in its modified proposal.

The Commission can agree on the Council's common position because it is respected that all ingredients must be mentioned in the label with their exact names and because is guaranteed too that the stock farmer can obtain all the necessary information about the composition of the feedingstuff.

The Commission feels that this combined solution is almost equivalent to its initial proposal.

The Council has adopted the common position by unanimity.

V. DECLARATIONS OF THE COMMISSION

There are no unilateral declarations of the Commission

Done at Brussels,

For the Commission

The President