WRITTEN QUESTION P-3276/98

by Terence Wynn (PSE) to the Commission

(22 October 1998)

Subject: Charges relating to meat hygiene and inspection

In the United Kingdom, the Meat (Hygiene and Inspection) (Charges) Regulations 1998 implement the provisions relating to charges for meat hygiene inspections under Council Directive 85/73/EEC(1) on the financing of veterinary inspections and controls covered by Directives 89/662/EEC(2), 90/425/EEC(3), 90/675/EEC(4) and 91/496/EEC(5), of which an amended and consolidated text is annexed to Council Directive 96/43/EC(6). Pursuant to Article 1 of Council Directive 85/73/EEC, they also provide for a charge to be levied in relation to hygiene inspection at slaughter of other land mammals and birds for which no standard charge is specified. The charges encompass any monitoring of the welfare of animals slaughtered for human consumption in slaughterhouses carried out under the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995 (S.I 1995/731).

1. Can the Commission supply details of the above charges in all the Member States?

2. Can the Commission confirm that all Member States are implementing the above directives?

3. Can the Commission define the qualifications of a person described as a "veterinarian" under the Directive?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(8 December 1998)

1. Council Directive 85/73/EEC of 29 January 1985 on the financing of health inspections and controls of fresh meat and poultrymeat introduced the principle of fees to be paid upon the slaughter of farm animals. Council Decision 88/408/EEC of 15 June 1988 on the levels of the fees to be charged for health inspections and controls of fresh meat pursuant to Directive 85/73/EEC(7) harmonised this area. The Decision sets the fee to be collected by the Member States for health inspections and controls of fresh meat under Directives 64/433/EEC(8), 71/118/EEC(9), 85/358/EEC(10) and 86/469/EEC(11).

2. However, on the basis of information available to it, the Commission noted that the application of this Decision appeared to be causing problems and that it was far from producing the harmonisation required. So, in March 1992 the Commission launched a survey of all the Member States - which involved examining hundreds of documents sent by them - to see if the Decision was being correctly applied. As a result of the survey, infringement proceedings were initiated against the Member States, some of which related to specific infringements and others to issues of principle. In 1993, the Council adopted Directive 93/118/EEC of 22 December 1993 amending Directive 85/73/EEC on the financing of health inspections and controls of fresh meat and poultrymeat(12) and repealing Decision 88/408/EEC. The content of Decision 88/408/EEC was retained in Chapter 1 of the Annex to the new Directive, however, thereby enabling the Commission to continue the infringement proceedings that were under way.

The Commission would like the Honourable Member to note two important aspects in particular. The first relates to the progressive harmonisation of health fees. The fees to be collected for the inspection and control of fresh meat and poultrymeat were fixed by Decision 88/408/EEC and included again in Chapter 1 of the Annex to Directive 93/118/EEC, which also adds in Chapter II a fee upon the importation of such meats.

The Council subsequently adopted Directive 96/43/EC of 26 June 1996, which amends Directive 85/73/EEC once more by adding health fees for the inspection and control of fishery products and live animals to the two matters already covered. The fees referred to by the Honourable Member accordingly originate in those fixed by Decision 88/408/EEC, the subject of the Commission's survey. The second aspect concerns the Member States' application of the health fees at slaughter. Now, following the survey and the infringement proceedings initiated by the Commission in relation to the application of Decision 88/408/EEC, the 12 States in the Community at the time apply the Decision as set out in Chapter I of the Annex to Directive 93/118/EEC, carry out the required inspections and collect either the flat-rate fees fixed by the Directive or alternatively their actual costs, as also authorised by the Directive. There are a few problems with the new Member States which are being resolved.

3. The term "veterinarian" linked to a qualification appears only once in Directive 85/73/EEC, as amended by Directive 96/43/EEC (in the introductory sentence to point 5 of Chapter I of Annex A). In this case, the term veterinarian is used to make a distinction between the various staff engaged in controls in slaughterhouses and cutting plants.

(1) OJ L 32, 5.2.1985, p. 14.

(2) OJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 13.

(3) OJ L 224, 18.8.1990, p. 29.

(4) OJ L 373, 31.12.1990, p. 1.

(5) OJ L 268, 24.9.1991, p. 56.

(6) OJ L 162, 1.7.1996, p. 1.

(7) OJ L 194, 22.7.1988.

(8) OJ L 121, 29.7.1964.

(9) OJ L 55, 8.3.1971.

(10) OJ L 191, 23.7.1985.

(11) OJ L 275, 26.9.1986.

(12) OJ L 340, 31.12.1993.