WRITTEN QUESTION E-2937/02

by Jan Mulder (ELDR) to the Commission

(17 October 2002)

Subject: Antibiotics as additives in animal feedingstuffs

The Commission recently put forward a proposal(1) to remove antibiotics as a category from the regulation on additives in feedingstuffs and to ban by 2006 those antibiotics currently authorised for use as additives in feedingstuffs on the European market. There would appear to be broad support for such a ban.

The Task Force on Animal Feedingstuffs set up by the Codex Alimentarius is currently holding negotiations on the same topic, negotiations in which a number of countries have intimated that they regard antibiotics as a normal additive IN animal feedingstuffs. Given that the PROVISIONS laid down in the Codex Alimentarius are ultimately employed as trade rules within the World Trade Organisation, the acknowledgement in the Codex Alimentarius of antibiotics as normal additives will place producers in the European Union at a competitive disadvantage.

1. Does the Commission expect the proposed total ban on the use of antibiotics as additives in animal feedingstuffs ultimately to be incorporated into the Codex Alimentarius? If not, which countries have objections to such a step?

2. Does the Commission regard a competitive disadvantage stemming from such disparities in legal provisions as acceptable?

3. To what extent is European food safety law brought into line with agreements under the Codex Alimentarius with a view to ruling out competitive disadvantages of this kind?

4. What steps will the Commission take should European law ultimately not be consistent with the Codex Alimentarius as regards the use of antibiotics as additives in animal feedingstuffs?

5. Does the Commission plan to put forward measures to protect the European market against products which contain additives banned in Europe?

(1) COM(2002) 153, OJ C 203 E, 27.8.2002, p. 10.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(9 December 2002)

There are currently four antibiotics authorised that can be used as feed additives: monensin sodium, salinomycin sodium, flavophospholipol and avilamycin.

The Commission proposal for a Regulation of the Parliament and of the Council on additives for use in animal nutrition proposes that:

(a) no more authorisations of antibiotics to be used as feed additive are to be accorded.

(b) the placing on the market and use of the currently authorised four antibiotics will not be permitted after 1 January 2006.

With this proposal the Commission follows the opinion of the Scientific Steering Committee, that stated in its opinion of 28 May 1999: regarding the use of anti-microbials as growth promoting agents, the use of agents from classes which are or may be used in human or veterinary medicine (i.e. where there is a risk of selecting for cross-resistance to drugs used to treat bacterial infections) should be phased out as soon as possible and ultimately abolished. The second opinion of the Scientific Steering Committee on anti-microbial resistance adopted on 10-11 May 2001 confirmed the need to provide sufficient time to replace those anti-microbials by alternative products: Thus, the phase-out process must be planned and co-ordinated since precipitous actions could have repercussions for animal health.

The Commission proposal based on a scientific opinion in an area where the EC Treaty requires Community action (Article 152 paragraph 4b on measures in the veterinary and phytosanitary fields which have the protection of public health as their main objective).

The Codex Task Force on Animal Feeding has a mandate to prepare a Draft Code of Practice on good animal feeding. The discussions on this code are still ongoing but its final purpose is to establish a feed safety system for food-producing animals in order to minimise risks to the health of consumers.

Concerning the use of antibiotics as feed additives, the position of the Community in the Codex has been for the inclusion of the following statement:

Antibiotics should not be used for growth promoting purposes in the absence of public health safety assessment. The Competent Authorities may decide not to allow antibiotics for growth promoting purposes.

Concerning the consequences at international level of the phasing out of antibiotics proposed by the Commission, the measure will apply not only to the imports of feed additives but also to the import of feed containing these additives. The residue testing policy provided by existing legislation allows checking for compliance with Community requirement and effective monitoring is also ensured through on-the-spot controls by the Commission's Food and Veterinary Office where third countries have officially implemented measures at least equivalent to those provided by Community legislation.

It is relevant to mention that Codex Alimentarius has not the authority to ban a substance from the market. Codex Alimentarius only produces recommendations to be taken into account by national governments. National governments are allowed to have different measures that are not based on Codex recommendations if they can demonstrate that those measures are necessary to guarantee a higher level of protection of human health. In this case the measures taken must be justified under the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement.

As regards the Codex Alimentarius activities, it is also worth mentioning that a Codex Committee on feed was never created. Feed matters are dealt with at Codex level only if they may influence human health. The Codex Task Force, mentioned in point 1 above, is a first attempt to draw up a reference document on feed at Codex level.

Since the seventies the Community has set up legislation on the feed sector, namely the rules on authorisation and use of feed additives.

The draft proposal on feed additives for use in animal nutrition, mentioned above, was notified under SPS agreement and if comments are made by SPS members, the Commission will need to justify the proposed measures, following the line expressed under point 1 above.

As mentioned under point 2, if the Parliament and the Council adopt the Commission proposal, the rules on controls on imports will apply. The Commission has no intention of proposing specific rules concerning the control of the four substances aimed to be phased out by 2006. However, in the new legislative proposals foreseen in the White Paper on Food Safety(1) the concerns of the Honourable Member will be addressed in a more general context.

(1) COM(1999) 719 final.