1. 10. 79 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 247/55 
2.3. The Committee also approves the proposed 
simplification of the procedure for amending the 
Annexes, whereby they may be amended by means of a 
Done at Brussels, 27 June 1979. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 198 
thereof, 
Having regard to the request made by the Council of the 
European Communities on 6 March 1979 for an 
opinion, 
Having regard to the decision taken by its Bureau on 
22 March 1979 instructing the Section for Protection of 
the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Affairs to 
draw up an opinion on the matter, 
Having regard to the opinion issued by the Section for 
Protection of the Environment, Public Health and 
Consumer Affairs at its meeting held on 29 May 1979, 
Having regard to the oral report submitted by the 
rapporteur, Mr Loughrey, simple Commission Regulation, except for Annexes 2, 3, 
9 and 10, to which the present amendment procedure 
will continue to apply. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Raffaele VANNI 
Having regard to the discussions at its 169th plenary 
session held on 27 and 28 June 1979 (meeting of 
27 June 1979), 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
unanimously: 
The Committee approves the proposed Council Decision 
and has the following comments to make: 
1. The Commission is motivated by the objectives in 
Article 2 of the Treaty to consolidate and coordinate 
research on the effects of thermal processing in the food 
industry at production level by drawing on the studies in 
food processing in national and private institutes which 
are already well developed in Europe. There is a 
considerable amount of work carried out by university 
and national centres on the influence of processing on the 
nutritive value of food, and similar work has been 
undertaken by major food processors. Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision adopting a concerted action project of the 
European Economic Community on the effects of thermal processing and distribution on the 
quality and nutritive value of food 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the European 
Communities No C 77 of 23 March 1979, page 14. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 6 March 1979 the Council referred the abovementioned proposal to the Economic and 
Social Committee in accordance with Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 169th 
plenary session held in Brussels on 27 and 28 June 1979. 
No C 247/56 Official Journal of the European Communities 1. 10. 79 
2. This proposed project on the effects of thermal 
processing and distribution on the quality and nutritive 
value of food is complementary to Decision 
78/177/EEC (J) adopting an earlier project dealing with 
the effect of processing on the physical properties of 
foodstuffs. A comparison of the Annexes to each project 
which outline the research work distributed among the 
Member States indicates that the recent programme is 
more detailed and would have more than academic 
interest to the food processing industry. 
3. The Committee recalls its comments on the 
preceding project in the programme in its opinion 
adopted on 15 December 1977 (2) and among the 
observations it made was the following: 
'As regards the studies on organoleptic and 
nutritional properties to be conducted in the second 
phase of the project, the Committee thinks it is vital 
that private industry research centres and 
agricultural and consumer organizations be 
consulted in good time and be called upon to 
contribute as far as possible to the planned research.' 
4. In the initiation of this additional project the 
Commission has consulted the Scientific and Technical 
Research Committee (Crest) consisting of representatives 
of the Member States and the Commission (Decision 
78/636/hEC (*)). In view of the significance of the 
(!) OJ No L 54, 25. 2. 1978, p. 25. 
(2) OJ No C 59, 8. 3. 1978, p. 55. 
(•») OJ No L203, 27. 7. 1978, p. 36. programme the Committee considers that it would also 
have been desirable to consult groups particularly 
interested in the programme such as the representatives 
of consumers, industrialists, farmers and those engaged 
in the distributive trades. 
5. The Committee is concerned with the limitation 
anticipated in Article 5 (c) of the proposed Council 
Decision. The last sentence of this sub-section to Article 
5 reads 'The Commission may make arrangements to 
ensure that this report remains confidential and is not 
disclosed to third parties'. The Committee feels that 
participation in the research programme should impose 
an obligation on all participants to disclose without 
reservation the results of specific research and that the 
limitation on publication, if any, should not extend 
beyond a reasonable time. 
6. The proposed project is the implementation of a 
proposal by the Swedish delegation as part of European 
Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical 
Research (COST) with which the Community is 
associated and the Committee would have been 
interested in the full programme with the details of 
research topics allocated to each of the participating 
non-member States. 
7. The Committee can anticipate that this 
supplementary programme is but a further step in an 
ultimate objective in coordinating research in many other 
areas of the food industry and hopes that the 
Commission will consult fully all interested parties, 
including consumers, in the formulation of any future 
programmes in this area. 
Done at Brussels, 28 June 1979. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Raffaele VANNI 
Opinion on the: 
— proposal for a Council Directive supplementing the \nnex to Directive 76/769/EEC on 
the approximation of the laws, regulations and administratis provisions of the Member 
States relating to restrictions on the marketing .md use of certain dangerous substances 
and preparations 
— proposal for a Council Directive amending tor the second time the Annex to Directive 
76/769/EEC on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions 
of the Member States relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain 
dangerous substances and preparations 
The texts referred to the Committee have been published in Official Journals of the European 
Communities No C 80 of 27 March 1979, page 11, and No C 96 of 12 April 1979, page 3.