Common Position (EC) No 6/2001

adopted by the Council on 19 December 2000

with a view to adopting Directive 2000/.../EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of ... amending Council Directive 79/373/EEC on the circulation of compound feedingstuffs and repealing Commission Directive 91/357/EEC

(2001/C 36/03)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 152(4)(b) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee(2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions(3),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty(4),

Whereas:

(1) Council Directive 79/373/EEC(5) lays down rules for the circulation of compound feedingstuffs within the Community.

(2) As regards labelling, the purpose of Directive 79/373/EEC is to ensure that stock farmers are informed objectively and as accurately as possible as to the composition and use of feedingstuffs.

(3) Hitherto, Directive 79/373/EEC provided for a flexible declaration confined to the indication of the feed materials without stating their quantity in feedingstuffs for production animals, while retaining the possibility of declaring categories of feed materials instead of declaring the feed materials themselves.

(4) Nonetheless, the bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis and the recent dioxin crisis have demonstrated the inadequacy of the current provisions and the need for more detailed qualitative and quantitative information on the composition of compound feedingstuffs for production animals.

(5) Detailed quantitative information on composition may help to ensure that potentially contaminated materials can be traced to specific batches, which will be beneficial to public health and avoid wastage of products which do not present a significant risk to public health.

(6) Accordingly, it is appropriate, at this stage, to impose a compulsory declaration of percentage brackets by weight for all the feed materials in compound feedingstuffs for production animals.

(7) For practical reasons, it is appropriate that declarations of the feed materials included in compound feedingstuffs for production animals be provided on an ad hoc label or accompanying document.

(8) The declaration of the feed materials in feedingstuffs constitutes, in certain cases, an important item of information for stock farmers. It is therefore appropriate, at the individual request of the stock farmer, that the person responsible for labelling supply a detailed list of all the feed materials used and their percentages by weight.

(9) Moreover, it is also important that the manufacturer of compound feedingstuffs should be able to choose voluntarily to supply a detailed list of all the feed materials used and their percentages by weight.

(10) It is also important to ensure that the accuracy of the declarations made can be officially verified at all stages of the circulation of the feedingstuffs. It is therefore appropriate that, in accordance with Council Directive 95/53/EC of 25 October 1995 fixing the principles governing the organisation of official inspections in the field of animal nutrition(6), the competent authorities monitor the accuracy of the information given by the labelling of compound feedingstuffs and that, in order to ensure the effectiveness of such monitoring, the manufacturers of compound feedingstuffs be obliged to make available to the competent authorities any document concerning the composition of feedingstuffs intended to be put into circulation.

(11) Special provisions are also needed for the labelling of feedingstuffs for pets to allow for the special character of this kind of feedingstuffs.

(12) Since it will no longer be possible in the future to declare categories of feed materials instead of declaring the feed materials themselves in the case of compound feedingstuffs for production animals, Commission Directive 91/357/EEC of 13 June 1991 laying down the categories of feed materials which may be used for the purposes of labelling compound feedingstuffs for animals other than pet animals(7) should be repealed,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Council Directive 79/373/EEC is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 5(1) is hereby amended as follows:

(a) point (j) shall be replaced by the following:

"(j) the batch reference number".

(b) the following point (l) shall be added:

"(l) In the case of compound feedingstuffs other than those intended for pets, the indication 'a list of feed materials used in this feedingstuff and their percentages by weight may be obtained from: ...'

(name or trade name, address or registered office and telephone No of the person responsible for the particulars referred to in this point).

At a customer's request, a manufacturer of compound feedingstuffs shall inform that customer of the percentage of each feed material included in the compound feedingstuff in question."

2. Article 5(3) is hereby amended as follows:

(a) point (c) shall be deleted;

(b) point (g) shall be replaced by the following:

"(g) for all compound feedingstuffs, a declaration of the percentage of each of the feed materials included".

3. In Article 5(5), point (d) shall be replaced by the following:

"(d) the minimum storage life, the net quantity, the batch reference number and the approval or registration number may be marked outside the space reserved for the labelling particulars referred to in paragraph 1; in this case, these details shall be accompanied by an indication of where the information appears."

4. Article 5c shall be replaced by the following:

"Article 5c

1. Where a declaration of the feed materials for feedingstuffs is provided, all the feed materials used in the compound feedingstuff shall be listed by their specific names.

2. The listing of feed materials for feedingstuffs shall be subject to the following rules:

(a) compound feedingstuffs intended for animals other than pets:

(i) listing of feed materials for feedingstuffs with an indication, in descending order, of the percentages by weight present in the compound feedingstuff, expressed in accordance with the brackets laid down in part C of the Annex, or

(ii) where Article 5(3)(g) is applied, listing of the feed materials with an indication, in descending order, of their percentages by weight;

(b) compound feedingstuffs intended for pets: listing of feed materials for feedingstuffs either indicating the amount contained or naming them in descending order by weight.

3. In the case of compound feedingstuffs intended for pets, the indication of the specific name of the feed material for feedingstuffs may be replaced by the name of the category to which the feed material for feedingstuffs belongs, with reference to the categories grouping several feed materials established in accordance with Article 10(a).

Use of one of these two forms of declaration shall exclude use of the other save where one of the feed materials for feedingstuffs used belongs to none of the categories which have been defined; in that case the feed material for feedingstuffs, designated by its specific name, shall be mentioned in descending order by weight in relation to the categories.

4. The labelling of compound feedingstuffs for pets may also draw particular attention by a specific declaration to the presence or low content of one or more feed materials for feedingstuffs, which are essential for characterising a feedingstuff. In such a case, the minimum or maximum content, expressed in terms of percentage by weight of the feed material(s) incorporated, shall be clearly indicated either opposite the declaration drawing special attention to the feed material(s) or in the list of feed materials by mentioning the feed material(s) and the percentage(s) by weight concerned opposite the corresponding category of feed materials."

5. The following subparagraph shall be added to Article 12:"They shall stipulate that the manufacturers of compound feedingstuffs are obliged to make available to the authorities responsible for carrying out official inspections, on request, any document concerning the composition of feedingstuffs intended to be put into circulation which enables the accuracy of the information given by the labelling to be verified."

6. The following Article 15a shall be inserted:

"Article 15a

At the latest on ...(8) the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council, on the basis of the information received from Member States, on the implementation of the measures introduced by Article 5(1)(j) and (l), Article 5(3)(g) and (5)(d) and Article 5c and Article 12, second subparagraph, particularly as regards the indication of quantities, in the form of percentage by weight, of feed materials on the labelling of compound feedingstuffs, accompanied by any proposals designed to improve these measures."

7. The Annex shall be supplemented by the text given in the Annex to this Directive.

Article 2

Commission Directive 91/357/EEC shall be repealed as from ...(9).

Article 3

1. Member States shall adopt and publish not later than ...(10), the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive. They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.

They shall apply these measures as from ...(11).

When Member States adopt these measures, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by Member States.

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of provisions of national law which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive.

Article 4

This Directive shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

Article 5

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Done at ...

For the European Parliament

The President

For the Council

The President

(1) OJ ...

(2) OJ C 140, 18.5.2000, p. 12.

(3) OJ ...

(4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 4 October 2000 (not yet published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of 19 December 2000, and Decision of the Parliament of ... (not yet published in the Official Journal).

(5) OJ L 86, 6.4.1979, p. 30. Directive as last amended by Directive 2000/16/EC (OJ L 105, 3.5.2000, p. 36).

(6) OJ L 265, 8.11.1995, p. 17. Directive as amended by Directive 1999/20/EC (OJ L 80, 25.3.1999, p. 20).

(7) OJ L 193, 17.7.1991, p. 34. Directive as last amended by Drective 98/67/EC (OJ L 261, 24.9.1998, p. 10).

(8) Four years and eight months after the entry into force of this Directive.

(9) Twenty months after the entry into force of this Directive.

(10) Twelve months after the entry into force of this Directive.

(11) Twenty months after the entry into force of this Directive

ANNEX

"PART C

(provided for in Article 5c)

Declaration of the feed materials used in the composition of compound feedingstuffs intended for animals other than pets

>TABLE>

Sample declaration:

> 30 %

Barley

> 5 % to 30 %

Soya beans

Wheat

> 5 % to 15 %

Oats

Sugar beet pulp

Sugar beet molasses

2 % to 5 %

Vegetable oil

Calcium carbonate

Vitamins (premixed)

Trace elements (premixed)

< 2 %

Magnesium oxide

Monocalcium phosphate"

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL'S REASONS

I. INTRODUCTION

1. On 10 January 2000 the Commission submitted to the Council a proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council, based on Article 152(4) of the Treaty, amending Directive 79/373/EEC on the marketing of compound feedingstuffs.

2. The European Parliament delivered its opinion at first reading on 4 October 2000 and, after consulting the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, the Council adopted a Common Position at its meeting on 19 December 2000, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty.

II. OBJECTIVES

3. The purpose of the proposal is to strengthen Community legislation on the labelling of compound feedingstuffs so as to have more information available and have the means of acting to protect public health better. In that respect it provides for mandatory disclosure of all the raw materials used in compound feedingstuffs for production animals and the quantities. In the Commission's view such information will help to ensure the traceability of raw materials so that those that are potentially contaminated may be identified.

III. COMMON POSITION

A. GENERAL REMARKS

While adopting the approach and the objectives proposed by the Commission and endorsed by the European Parliament, the Council considered it necessary, when preparing its Common Position, to make some changes both to the substance and to the form of the proposal for a directive.

When making those changes, the Council wanted, inter alia, to:

- make the wording of the Directive more precise and more consistent, and thus to improve the legal clarity of the text,

- specify the scope of certain provisions.

B. SPECIFIC REMARKS

1. The main changes made to the Commission proposal

The main changes concerned the provisions on the detailed quantitative information that manufacturers must give regarding the composition of compound feedingstuffs for production animals.

In that respect, the Council did not want fully to follow the Commission by imposing on manufacturers an obligation to disclose the exact quantities of the raw materials used in compound feedingstuffs. Considering it unrealistic, for both practical and technical reasons, to prescribe such a general requirement, it adopted the solution of a declaration, still mandatory, but disclosing the raw materials used in compound feedingstuffs on the basis of the percentage they represent of the weight, in decreasing order, within brackets (see Common Position, Article 1(4) and Annex).

The Common Position, however, stipulates that at the request of an individual customer the manufacturer of a compound feedingstuff must provide that customer with a detailed list of all the ingredients used in the compound feedingstuff in question by percentage of weight (see Article 1(1)).

The solution adopted does not prevent the manufacturer of a compound feedingstuff from voluntarily providing a detailed list of the ingredients by the percentage they represent of the weight (see amendment to Article 5(3)(g) made by Article 1(3) of the Common Position).

2. The Council's position on the European Parliament's amendments

(a) Amendments incorporated entirely or partially in the Common Position

Amendments 1, 3 and 4 were accepted and were incorporated in recital 10 and Article 1(3) and (5) of the Common Position. The wording of Amendments 1 and 4 was, however, altered slightly.

(b) Amendments not incorporated in the Common Position

In not incorporating Amendments 2 and 5 the Council was supporting the Commission's position.

It considered:

- in connection with Amendment 2, that given the magnitude of the task the Commission must be allowed sufficient time to draw up a positive list of raw materials authorised for use in feedingstuffs,

- in connection with Amendment 5, that the deadlines proposed by the European Parliament were too close to the date on which the future directive would become applicable.

IV. GENERAL CONCLUSION

The Council considers that its Common Position, which includes the amendments described above, largely takes account of the European Parliament's opinion at first reading and represents a balanced solution that meets users' expectations of transparency and manufacturers' and monitoring authorities' expectations of simplicity and effectiveness, thus serving best to achieve the Commission's objectives.