Proposal for a COUNCIL DIRECTIVE amending the Annex to Directive 91/493/EEC laying down the health conditions for the production and the placing on the market of fishery products
Date: 1995-10-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: fishery product, health control, labelling, marketing

COMMISSION  OF THE EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

Brussels,  23.10.1995 
COM(95) 490 final 

Proposal  for a 

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 

amending the Annex to Directive 91/493/EEC laying down the health conditions for the 

production and the placing on the market of fishery products 

(presented by the Commission) 

Explanatory  memorandum 

The  Community  laid  down  the  health  conditions  for  the  production  and  the  placing  on the 
market  of  fishery  products  in  July  1991  (Directive  91/493/EEC).  Minimum  hygiene  rules 
aboard 
in  June  1992 
(Directive  92/48/EEC). 

fishing  vessels  were  subsequently  adopted  by 

the  Council 

The  application of these  rules  by the  Member  States from  1 January  1993 revealed  certain 
difficulties  with the placing  on the  market  of fishery  products frozen  on board vessels which 
are  not  considered  to  be  factory  vessels  within  the  meaning  of  Directive  91/493/EEC  but 
which are covered by Directive  92/48/EEC. A number of technical amendments must therefore 
be made to the Annex to  Directive  91/493/EEC to  permit  the  marketing  of such  products. 

The  amendments  presented  in the form  of a proposal for a Directive do not affect the  body 
of Directive 91/493/EEC but only its Annex. Article  13 of Directive 91/493/EEC lays down that 
any amendments to the Annex are to be adopted by the Council, acting by a qualified majority 
on a proposal from  the Commission. 

The  proposed  amendments  concern: 

- 

the compulsory  packaging of fish fillets and slices, reserving this operation to  land-based 
establishments  and factory  vessels; 

-  clarification  regarding  processing  operations  carried  out aboard factory  vessels; 

- 

the identification of fishery  products  placed on the Community  market. 

These amendments, which in no way affect the high level of protection of public health, adjust 
the rules to take better account of the existing situation with regard to the production of frozen 
fish  in  the  Community.  This  is  a  purely  technical  adjustment 
intended  to  facilitate  the 
application  of Community  legislation  and  in particular  the  measures  intended to ensure  the 
free  circulation  of foodstuffs  of animal origin. 

Proposal  for  a  Council  Directive 

amending  the  Annex  to  Directive  91/493/EEC  laying  down  the  health  conditions  for  the 

production  and the  placing  on the  market  of fishery  products 

THE  COUNCIL  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  UNION, 

Having  regard  to the  Treaty  establishing  the  European  Community, 

Having  regard  to  Council  Directive  91/493/EEC  of  22  July  1991  laying  down  the  health 

conditions  for  the  production  and  the  placing  on  the  market  of  fishery  products(1)  and  in 

particular  Article  13  thereof, 

Having  regard  to the  proposal  from  the  Commission, 

Whereas  Council  Directive  92/48/EEC 

laying  down  the  minimum  hygiene 

rules  applicable  to  fishery  products  obtained  on  board  certain  vessels  in  accordance  with 

Article  3(1)(a)(i)  of Directive  91/493/EEC(2)  provides that freezer  vessels  shall be entered  in 

a  list  kept  regularly  up to  date  by the  competent  authority; 

Whereas  fishery  products  obtained  on  board  freezer  vessels  which  meet  the  hygiene 

requirements  laid  down  in  Directive  92/48/EEC  should  be  permitted  to  be  placed  on  the 

market  on the same terms  as fishery products frozen  in establishments  on land; whereas the 

Annex  to  Directive  91/493/EEC  should  be  amended  accordingly; 

Whereas  certain  problems  of  application  reported  by  the  Member  States  call  for  the 

clarification  of certain  technical  aspects  of  Directive  91/493/EEC,  to  enable  the  provisions 

to  be  uniformly  applied  in the  Community,  especially  in connection  with the  identification  of 

fishery  products  marketed, 

HAS  ADOPTED  THIS  DIRECTIVE: 

(1)  OJ  No  L 268,  24.9.1991,  p.  15 
(2)  O J N oL  187,  7.7.1992,  p.  41 

> 

Article 1 

The  annex to Directive  91/493/EEC  is hereby amended  as follows: 

1.  Chapter  1(H)(5)  is replaced  by the following: 

"5. On-board  processing  of  fishery  products  must  be  carried  out  under  the  conditions  of 

hygiene laid down in section II, points 2 and 3, section IV and section V of Chapter IV of 

this Annex." 

2.  The  second sentence of Chapter  IV(I)(3)  is replaced by the following: 

"Fillets  and  slices  must  not  remain  on work  tables  any  longer  than  is  necessary  for their 

preparation, and they must be protected from contamination  by appropriate wrapping." 

3.  The first sentence  of  the  second  paragraph  of  Chapter  V(ll)(3)(b)  is  replaced  by the 

following: 

"These limits apply only to fish species of the following families: Scombridae,  Clupeidae  and 

Engraulidae." 

4.  Chapter VII  is replaced by the following: 

"CHAPTER  VII 

IDENTIFICATION  MARKS 

Without prejudice to the requirements laid down in Directive 79/112/EEC, it must be possible 

to trace  for  inspection  purposes the  establishment  of dispatch  of consignments  of  fishery 

products, by means either of labelling or of the accompanying documents. 

For  that  purpose,  the  following  information  must  appear  on  the  packaging  or  in  the 

accompanying documents: 

- 

the  country  of dispatch, which  may  be written  out  in full  or shown  as  an abbreviation, 

using capital letters, i.e., for the Member  States of the Community,  one of the following: 

B, DK, D,  EL, E,  F,  IRL,  I, L, NL, P,  UK, AT,  FI, SE. 

- 

identification  of the establishment  or factory  vessel by its official  approval  number  or,  in 

the case of marketing from a freezer vessel of products covered by point 7 of Annex II of 

Directive  92/48/EEC, the identification  number  of the vessel, or,  in the case of  separate 

registering  of  auction  or  wholesale  markets  as  laid down  in the  third  subparagraph  of 

Article  7(1)  of this Directive, the registration  number  of the auction or wholesale  market. 

-  one of the following abbreviations: CE, EC, EG, EK, EF, EY. 

All the letters  and figures must be fully  legible and grouped together  on the  packaging in a 

place where they are visible from the outside without any need to open the said packaging." 

Article 2 

1.  The  Member  States  shall  bring  into  force  the  laws,  regulations  and  administrative 

provisions necessary to comply with this Directive before 1  January 1996. They shall notify 

the Commission  thereof. 

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 a reference shall be laid down by the Member 

States. 

2.  Member States shall communicate to the Commission the text of the provisions of national 

law  which they adopt in the field covered by this Directive. 

Article 3 

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

European Communities. 

r tt 

Article  4 

This Directive  is addressed to the Member  States. 

Done at Brussels 

For the Council 

The  President 

i 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(95) 490  final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

03  05 

Catalogue number  : CB-CO-95-530-EN-C 

ISBN 92-77-94550-8 

Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 

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