WRITTEN QUESTION E-1673/99

by Horst Schnellhardt (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(22 September 1999)

Subject: Regulation No 820/97 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products

In Regulation No 820/97(1) of 21 April 1997 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products, the EU Agriculture Council provided for the introduction of compulsory labelling of beef from 1 January 2000 in all Member States.

According to press reports, the Commission intends to retreat from this date and not introduce compulsory labelling in the form laid down in the 1997 Regulation until the year 2002.

1. What progress has been made with preparations in the various Member States for the introduction of the system guaranteeing the origin of cattle?

2. What problems are occurring in implementing the regulation? In which Member States in particular are the problems arising?

3. Does the Commission intend, contrary to the press reports, to adhere to 1 January 2000 as the deadline for introducing the new identification and labelling system?

(1) OJ L 117, 7.5.1997, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(22 November 1999)

Article 19 of Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 of 21 April 1997 establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products(1) states that the Commission shall receive reports from all Member States on the implementation of beef labelling and shall draft a report to the Council and Parliament, accompanied by proposals for the future, on the situation across the Community.

A reliable, compulsory beef labelling scheme depends on a fully operational system of identification and registration of bovine animals. In the compiling of the report, the Commission came to the conclusion that adequate systems for tracing back carcasses to the holding from which they last came are in place in all Member States except one. However, it will not be possible for at least half of the Member States, as from 1 January 2000, to know for each animal slaughtered, its place of birth and all the places or countries where it has been held during its life, in particular because the requirement for the full movement record of an animal in the form of a passport only applies to animals born after 1 January 1998.

On 13 October 1999, the Commission formally adopted the report(2) and two proposals(3), which set the timeframe for the compulsory labelling of beef in the Community. Both proposals are based upon Article 152 (public health) (ex-Article 129) of the EC Treaty.

The objective of the first proposed regulation is to replace the existing Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 and to lay down the general rules for a compulsory labelling system in two steps. The first stage, which will enter into force one month after the adoption of the regulation, makes provision for the obligatory indication on labels of information readily available concerning the point of slaughter. From 1 January 2003 the beef label has also to include in addition precise information about where the animal was born and reared.

Given the time required for adoption of the first regulation under co-decision, a second regulation has been proposed. This amending regulation prolongs the dispositions of the existing Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97, which provide a legal base for voluntary labelling scheme only until 1 January 2000. However, this prolongation will only last until such time as the first proposal is adopted, that is, until 1 January 2001 at the latest.

(1) OJ L 117, 7.5.1997.

(2) COM(1999) 486 final.

(3) COM(1999) 487.