Proposals for European Parliament and Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97, establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products
Date: 1999-10-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: beef, cattle, health control, labelling, meat product

C 376 E/52

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

28.12.1999

Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No
820/97, establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and
regarding the labelling of beef and beef products

(1999/C 376 E/08)

COM(1999) 487 final (cid:151) 1999/0205(COD)

(Submitted by the Commission on 27 Oktober 1999)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

(6) It is therefore necessary to amend Council Regulation (EC)

No 820/97.

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 152 thereof,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Article 1

Having regard to the opinion of
Committee,

the Economic and Social

Article 19 Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 is hereby
replaced by the following:

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

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

Whereas:

(1) Article 19 of Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97, estab-
lishing a system for the identification and registration of
bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef
products (1),
labelling
system shall be introduced, which shall be obligatory in
from 1 January 2000 onwards. On
all Member States,
the basis of a Commission proposal,
the same Article
also states that
the general rules for that compulsory
system shall be decided before that date.

lays down that a compulsory beef

(2) The Commission has submitted to the Council a proposal
for a regulation replacing Regulation (EC) No 820/97 and
the compulsory beef
including the general
the
labelling
to be
that
adoption of
completed before 1 January 2000.

system. The procedures

regulation are not

required

likely

rules

for

for

(3) In principle, the consequence of not adopting a new regu-
lation would be that
the compulsory system, based on
origin, would immediately come into force with no
general
to guide it. This would create a very
uncertain and unsatisfactory situation for beef operators
not only in the Community but also in third countries.

rules

(4) Such an unsatisfactory situation can be avoided by
prolonging the current voluntary arrangements laid down
in Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 and by delaying the
entry into force of the compulsory labelling system laid
down in Article 19 of the same Regulation, by one year.

(5) The primary aim of the beef labelling system is protection
of public health since it
is intended to maintain and
strengthen consumer confidence in beef which had been
gravely affected by the BSE crisis. The appropriate legal
basis for this Regulation is therefore Article 152 of the
Treaty.

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

(cid:145)Article 19

beef-labelling

system shall

A compulsory

be
1.
introduced which shall be obligatory in all Member States
from 1 January 2001 onwards. However, this compulsory
system shall not exclude the possibility for a Member State
to decide to apply the system merely on an optional basis
to beef sold in that same Member State. The labelling
system provided for in this Regulation shall apply until
31 December 2000.

On the basis of the report provided for in paragraph 3, the
Parliament and the Council,
in accordance with the
procedure provided for in Article 152 of the Treaty, shall
therefore take a decision before 1 January 2001 on the
general rules for a compulsory beef-labelling system to
in accordance with the
from that date,
apply
Community’s international commitments.

as

2.
Save where otherwise decided by the Parliament and
the Council, the labelling system compulsory as from 1
January 2001 shall, in accordance with the Community’s
international commitments,
in addition to the labelling
information referred to in Article 16(3), also require indi-
cation of the Member State or third country where the
the
animal
Member States or third countries where the animal was
raised and the Member State or third country where the
animal was slaughtered.

from which the beef

is derived was born,

3. Member States shall submit to the Commission, by 1
May 1999, reports on the implementation of the labelling
system for beef. The Commission shall submit
to the
European Parliament and the Council a report on the
situation regarding the implementation of beef
labelling
systems in the different Member States.

4.
However, Member States where there is a sufficiently
developed identification and registration system for bovine
animals may before 1 January 2001 impose a compulsory
labelling system for beef from animals born, fattened and
they may
slaughtered on their
decide that one or more of
information
referred to in Article 16(1) and (2) must be indicated on
labels.

territory. Furthermore,
the items of

28.12.1999

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 376 E/53

lead to any disruption of
States.

A compulsory system as provided for in paragraph 4
5.
trade between the
must not
Member
arrangements
applicable in those Member States intending to apply the
provisions of paragraph 4 shall require prior approval from
the Commission.

implementation

The

6.
By 1 January 2001, the Parliament and the Council, in
accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 152
of
to whether
compulsory indication of data other than those provided

take a decision as

the Treaty,

shall

this
for in paragraph 2 and extension of
Regulation to products other than those indicated in the
first indent of Article 13 are possible and desirable.(cid:146)

the scope of

Article 2

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

It shall be applicable from 1 January 2000.