WRITTEN QUESTION E-3117/00 by Konrad Schwaiger (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Regulation 2000/418/EC and the separate processing of material presenting risks as regards TSEs.
Date: 2000-10-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Germany, agricultural waste, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, precautionary principle, veterinary legislation

C 136 E/188

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

8.5.2001

(2001/C 136 E/218)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3117/00

by Konrad Schwaiger (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(6 October 2000)

Subject: Regulation 2000/418/EC and the separate processing of material presenting risks as regards TSEs

I wish to notify the Commission of a problem brought to my attention by my constituents.

On 29 June 2000 the Commission issued Regulation 2000/418/EC (1), which makes it compulsory for all
Member States to collect, process and incinerate specified risk material (material presenting risks as regards
TSEs) from animal carcasses and slaughterhouse waste separately after 1 October 2000. This takes no
account of the fact that Germany has been recognised as BSE-free according to the Animal Health Code of
the International Office of Epizootics. The obligation in question will cost Baden-W(cid:252)rttemberg around
DEM 5 million, or an estimated DEM 35 to 40 million for Germany as a whole. A new regulation which
the Commission is currently drawing up is supposed to provide for exemptions from these rules.

When will the draft regulation be submitted to the Council and the European Parliament? Would it be
to introduce a
possible, pending the entry into force of
Commission decision excluding EU Member States that are BSE-free from the requirement for separate
processing?

the regulation providing for exemptions,

(1) OJ L 158, 30.6.2000, p. 76.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(22 November 2000)

The Commission adopted as a precautionary measure Decision 2000/418/EC regulating the use of material
presenting risks as regards transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and amending Decision 94/474/EC.
It did so in view of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) cases continuing to occur in the Community,
even in Member States that have not identified native cases in the past, and the repeated statements of the
scientific steering committee (SSC) recommending the exclusion of specified risk materials (SRMs) from
food and feed chains. This Decision applies also to Germany and requires since 1 October 2000 a range of
specified risk material to be removed. There is no question of any exemption to this measure.

After adoption of that Decision the SSC consolidated those statements by adopting its final opinion on the
geographical risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Following an analysis of the available information
on the key risk factors the SSC came to the conclusion that the presence of BSE could not be excluded in
any Member State. It also concluded that in Germany, Spain and Italy the presence of BSE in the national
cattle herds is likely, even if hitherto no domestic cases had been identified. This opinion and the
supporting Member States reports expanding in detail on the reasons behind the evaluation have since
been published on the internet.

The International Animal Health Office (OIE) has not yet proceeded to recognise any of its members as
BSE free on the basis of its animal health code on BSE. In order to do so the OIE general assembly would
first have to agree the questionnaire providing the information for carrying out the assessment on
fulfilment of the criteria for BSE freedom. The subsequent step would be the approval of a proposal for
listing of the BSE free members. The approval of the questionnaire is only foreseen for May 2001, and the
listing of BSE free members not before May 2002. The OIE code criteria for BSE freedom address a range
of risk factors of which the number of reported cases of BSE is only one element. In this sense there is no
conflict between the OIE code and the above mentioned SSC opinion on geographic BSE risk.