Common Position (EC) No 9/2001 of 12 February 2001 adopted by the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, with a view to adopting a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 95/53/EC fixing the principles governing the organisation of official inspections in the field of animal nutrition and Directives 70/524/EEC, 96/25/EC and 1999/29/EC on animal nutrition
Date: 2001-02-12
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU control, animal nutrition, food inspection, information system

23.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 93/1

I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COMMON POSITION (EC) No 9/2001

adopted by the Council on 12 February 2001

with a view to adopting Directive 2001/.../EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of ...
amending Council Directive 95/53/EC fixing the principles governing the organisation of official
inspections in the field of animal nutrition and Directives 70/524/EEC, 96/25/EC and 1999/29/EC
on animal nutrition

(2001/C 93/01)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity, and in particular Article 152(4)(b) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (2),

Having regard to the opinion of
Regions (3),

the Committee of

the

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in
Article 251 of the Treaty (4),

Whereas:

(1)

The safety of products destined for animal nutrition is
of primary concern and it is necessary to ensure that
products put into circulation in the Community for the
purposes of animal nutrition are safe. Council Directive
95/53/EC of 25 October 1995 fixing the principles

(1) OJ C 274 E, 26.9.2000, p. 28.
(2) OJ C ...
(3) OJ C ...
(4) Opinion of the European Parliament of 4 October 2000 (not yet
published in the Official Journal), Council Common Position of
12 February 2001 and decision of the European Parliament of ...
(not yet published in the Official Journal).

governing the organisation of official
inspections in
the field of animal nutrition (5) contributes to the
achievement of that objective.

Council Directive 74/63/EEC was repealed by Article 16
of Council Directive 1999/29/EC of 22 April 1999
on undesirable substances and products in animal
nutrition (6).
to Directive
74/63/EEC have to be amended pursuant to the table in
Annex IV to Directive 1999/29/EC.

Therefore,

references

As regards the reference to the circulation of products
is necessary to
to be used in animal nutrition,
harmonise
by Directives
70/524/EEC (7), 95/53/EC and 96/25/EC (8) in the animal
nutrition sector.

definitions

it
used

the

(2)

(3)

(5) OJ L 265, 8.11.1995, p. 17. Directive as last amended by Directive
2000/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L
333, 29.12.2000, p. 81).
(6) OJ L 115, 4.5.1999, p. 32.
(7) Council Directive 70/524/EC of 23 November 1970 concerning
additives in feedingstuffs (OJ L 270, 14.12.1970, p. 1). Directive
as last amended by Directive 1999/20/EC (OJ L 80, 25.3.1999,
p. 20).

(8) Council Directive 96/25/EC of 29 April 1996 on the circulation
of feed materials. (OJ L 125, 23.5.1996, p. 35). Directive as last
amended by Directive 2000/16/EC of the European Parliament
and of the Council (OJ L 105, 3.5.2000, p. 36).

C 93/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

23.3.2001

Serious dioxin contamination recently occurred twice in
products to be used in animal nutrition. Taking into
account the experience gained from these incidents, it is
necessary to improve the procedures applicable to cases
where a product for animal nutrition poses a serious
risk to human or animal health or to the environment
or where certain infringements of Directive 1999/29/EC
are detected. The aim is in this way to improve the
management of risks which would preclude the level of
protection of human or animal health and of
the
environment provided for in the Community regulations
on animal nutrition while not trivialising those special
procedures by systematically applying them to minor
problems.

(9)

(10)

(4)

(5)

A Commission inspection carried out following dioxin
contamination of the feed and food chain revealed that
Member States had had difficulty in managing such an
unusual crisis. In the light of the experience gained, and
in order to ensure that serious risks involving a product
for animal nutrition are managed with equivalent
guarantees of efficiency throughout the Community, it is
necessary to introduce provisions requiring the Member
States to have in place contingency operational plans to
deal with emergencies in the animal nutrition sector.

(6) Where a serious risk to human or animal health or to
the environment arises in a Member State due to
products for animal nutrition, and where that risk
cannot be contained satisfactorily by the Member State(s)
concerned, it is indispensable for the Commission to be
able to take all the necessary precautionary measures
and to have in particular the authority to suspend trade
in, and exports of, products for animal nutrition from
all or part of
the Member State concerned or to
establish special conditions for the relevant products or
substances.

(7)

(8)

Directive 1999/29/EC establishes the maximum permit-
ted levels for certain undesirable substances and products
in feed materials and feedingstuffs.

A system has already been established to enable the
Member States to be informed by operators, at all stages
of the feed-producing chain, of certain cases of non-
compliance with the rules on undesirable products and
substances. In view of both the experience gained and
the similar arrangements provided for in the Community
rules on general product safety, that system should be
improved and extended to render it applicable to all
cases where an operator finds that a product for animal
nutrition poses a serious risk to human or animal health
or to the environment.

At present there is an obligation to inform the other
Member States and the Commission when a consign-
ment of feed materials or feedingstuffs which is not in
compliance with the maximum levels for undesirable
substances or products is likely to be sent to other
Member States.

It is necessary to incorporate this rapid-information-
exchange system into Directive 95/53/EC and set stan-
dard procedures for its operation, so that it can be
applied in future in all cases where a product endangers
human health, animal health or the environment and
for the purpose of improving the inspection system as a
whole. For reasons of simplicity and efficiency, the
system should also apply where a Member State refuses
a product from a third country when checking it upon
importation. These standard procedures could, subject
to certain amendments, be the same as those laid down
for exchanging information in emergencies pursuant to
Council Directive 92/59/EEC of 29 June 1992 on general
product safety (1).

(11)

is not possible to list all potentially dangerous
It
contaminations of biological or chemical origin, which
may happen by accident or by illegal action, and may
affect a product to be used in animal nutrition.

(12) The risk of hazards deriving from mislabelling or from
handling, transport, storage or processing should be
taken into consideration.

(13) To improve the efficiency of the inspection system and
inspection measures, where there is a
the relevant
suspicion of contamination posing a serious risk to
human health, animal health or to the environment,
Member States should be required to verify the nature
and extent of the contamination and to make every
effort to identify its origin in order to detect any other
possible contamination.

(14) Directive 95/53/EC requires Member States to submit to
the Commission information on the results of inspec-
tions carried out each year, before 1 April 2000 for the
first time. It is also laid down that those reports will be
used by the Commission to prepare and submit an
overall summary report on inspections carried out
at Community level together with a proposal for a
coordinated inspection programme for the following
year. Information concerning contamination affecting
the safety of a product to be used in animal nutrition
shall be considered by the Member States and the

(1) OJ L 228, 11.8.1992, p. 24.

23.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 93/3

Commission in fixing the priorities for annual coord-
inated inspection programmes. All
the information
gathered on risks to human health, animal health or to
the environment, relating to the circulation and use of
products for animal nutrition, can be better analysed
when provided in harmonised and standardised form.

(15) Taking into account the foregoing, Council Directives
95/53/EC, 70/524/EEC, 96/25/EC or 1999/29/EC
should be amended,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1

Directive 95/53/EC is hereby amended as follows:

1. Article 2(1) is hereby amended as follows:

(a)

the second indent shall be replaced by the following:

‘— Council Directive 1999/29/EC of 22 April
1999 on undesirable substances and products
in animal nutrition (*).

(*) OJ L 115, 4.5.1999, p. 32.’;

(b) point (e) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(e)

“product
intended for animal nutrition” or
“product”: animal feed or any substance used
in animal nutrition;’;

(c)

point (h) shall be replaced by the following:

‘(h)

“putting into circulation” or “circulation”: the
holding of any product intended for animal
nutrition for the purposes of sale, including
offering for sale, or any other form of transfer,
whether free or not, to third parties, and the
sale and other forms of transfer themselves.’;

2.

the following Article 4a shall be added after Article 4:

‘Article 4a

1. Member States shall draw up contingency oper-
ational plans setting out measures to be implemented
without delay where a product for animal nutrition has
been found to pose a serious risk to human health, animal
health or to the environment and specifying powers
and responsibilities as well as channels for transmitting
information. Member States shall review these plans as
appropriate, particularly in the light of changes in the
organisation of the inspection services and of the experi-
ence gained,
including that gained in any simulation
exercises.

2. Member States shall forward to the Commission the
contingency operational plans drawn up by them and
also any amendments thereto.

3. The Commission shall examine the plans and suggest
to the Member States concerned any amendment which
would help to ensure that Member States’ contingency
operation plans offer equivalent guarantees of efficiency.
Where necessary in order to achieve that objective the
Commission, acting in accordance with the procedure
provided for in Article 23, may issue guidelines to
harmonise the contingency operational plans.’;

3. Article 12(1) shall be replaced by the following:

‘1. The competent authority of the Member State of
destination may, at places of destination, check the
compliance of products with the provisions of
Article 2(1)(a) by means of non-discriminatory random
checks. In particular, and only to the extent necessary for
carrying out these random checks, Member States may
ask operators to report the arrival of the products to that
competent authority. Member States shall
inform the
Commission when they avail themselves of this action.’;

4)

the following section 3a shall be added after Article 15:

‘S e c t i o n 3 a

Safeguard clause

Article 15a

1. Where a problem due to a product to be used in
animal nutrition, likely to pose a serious risk to human
health, animal health or to the environment, appears in
one or more Member States and cannot be contained
satisfactorily by means of the measures taken by the
Member State(s) concerned, the Commission, acting in
accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 23a
on its own initiative or at the request of a Member State,
shall immediately, depending on the seriousness of the
situation adopt the following measures:

— suspend the putting-into-circulation within the
Community, the use in animal nutrition or exports
to non-member countries of products from all or
part of the Member State(s) concerned or from one
or more establishments situated in Community
territory, or

— lay down special conditions for the putting into
circulation in the Community, the use in animal
nutrition or exports to non-member countries of
products from all or part of the Member State(s)
concerned or from one or more establishments
situated in Community territory.

C 93/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

23.3.2001

in emergencies,

2. However,
the Commission may
provisionally adopt the measures referred to in paragraph
1 after consulting the Member State(s) concerned and
informing the other Member States. It shall submit the
matter to the Standing Committee for Feedingstuffs set
up by Article 1 of Decision 70/372/EEC (*) within
10 working days for its opinion, in accordance with the
procedure laid down in Article 23a, with a view to the
extension, amendment or repeal of those measures.

Where a Member State officially informs the Commission
of the need to take protective measures and where the
Commission has not had recourse to the measures
referred to in paragraph 1, that Member State may adopt
temporary protective measures with regard to use or
putting into circulation. Where a Member State adopts
such measures,
immediately inform the other
Member States and the Commission. The Commission
shall submit the question to the Standing Committee for
Feedingstuffs within 10 working days for its opinion in
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 23a
with a view to the extension, amendment or repeal of the
temporary protective measures taken by that Member
State.

it shall

Article 15b

The Commission shall inform the European Parliament
of the measures taken under Articles 9a and 15a.

(*) OJ L 170, 3.8.1970, p. 1.’;

— does not comply with one of the other provisions
referred to in Article 2(1)(a) of this Directive and,
owing to that non-compliance and, in view of the
purpose for which it is intended, poses a serious
risk to human health, animal health or to the
environment.

The persons responsible for the establishments shall
provide all details enabling precise identification of the
relevant product or consignment of products and as full
as possible a description of the risk posed by the product
or products concerned, as well as all available information
useful in tracing the product or products. They shall also
inform the competent authorities of the Member States
of action taken to prevent risks to human health, animal
health or to the environment, describing that action.

The Member States shall lay down the same information
requirements concerning the risks posed by products
for animal nutrition for persons carrying out health
monitoring of holdings such as those referred to in
Article 10 of Council Directive 96/23/EC of 29 April
1996 on measures to monitor certain substances and
residues thereof in live animals and animal products (*),
and for persons responsible for laboratories carrying out
analyses.

Where appropriate, the competent authorities shall apply
the provisions of Articles 8, 11 or 13.

5.

the following Chapter IIIA shall be added after Article 16:

Article 16b

‘CHAPTER IIIA

INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR HAZARDS
FEEDINGSTUFFS

FROM

Article 16a

Member States shall prescribe that the persons responsible
immediately inform the
for the establishments must
Member States’ competent authorities if they have evi-
dence that a consignment of products for animal nutrition
which they have brought into Community territory from
a non-member country or put into circulation, and which
they are holding or own:

— exceeds the maximum levels laid down in Section A
of Annex II to Directive 1999/29/EC beyond which
the product must not be fed as such to animals or
mixed with other products for animal nutrition, or

1. Where the competent authorities of the Member
States have information indicating, on the basis of the
risk assessment factors available, that a consignment of
products for animal nutrition poses a serious risk to
human health, animal health or to the environment,
they shall verify the information received and, where
appropriate, ensure that the necessary measures are taken
so that the consignment is not used in animal nutrition,
put the consignment under restriction and investigate
immediately:

— the nature of the hazard and where appropriate the

level of contamination,

— the possible origin of the contamination or of the

hazard,

in order to assess the risk more closely.

23.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 93/5

Where appropriate, the risk assessment shall be extended
to other consignments of
the same product or to
other products in the feed or food chain to which the
contamination or hazard might have extended, taking
into account any cross-contamination with other prod-
ucts for animal nutrition and possible recycling of
dangerous products into the feed chain.

2. Where the existence of a serious risk is confirmed in
accordance with paragraph 1, Member States shall ensure
that the final destination of the contaminated consign-
ment, including possible decontamination, reprocessing
or destruction, cannot have harmful effects on human or
animal health or on the environment and where it is
possible that
the contamination or the hazard has
extended to other consignments or to the feed or food
chain they shall
immediately identify and put under
control other consignments of the products deemed
hazardous and also, where appropriate,
identify live
animals fed with hazardous products and implement the
measures provided for in Directive 96/23/EC or in other
relevant Community provisions relating to animal health
or to the food safety of products of animal origin ensuring
coordination between the relevant control services, in
order to avoid the hazardous products being put into
circulation and to ensure the enforcement of recall
procedures for the products already in circulation.

Article 16c

1. Where a Member State finds that a product for
animal nutrition which has been put into circulation in
its own territory and in that of other Member States, or a
product originating in a non-member country which has
been brought into Community territory in order to be
put into circulation in one or more Member States:

— exceeds the maximum levels laid down in section A
of Annex II to Directive 1999/29/EC beyond which
the product must not be fed as such to animals or
mixed with other products for animal nutrition, or

— does not comply with one of the other provisions
referred to in Article 2(1)(a) of this Directive and,
owing to that non-compliance and the purpose for
which it is intended, poses a serious risk to human
health, animal health or to the environment,

that Member State shall forthwith alert the Commission
by way of notification.

It shall provide sufficient information to identify the
products concerned, trace and put them under control
and, where appropriate, the live animals fed with them,

and shall specify safeguard measures envisaged or already
taken, in order to enable the Commission properly to
inform the other Member States.

2. Any Member State concerned shall immediately alert
the Commission of any follow-up measure taken in
respect of the notified hazards, including information
concerning the end of the risk situation.

3. The Commission and the Member States shall set up
and operate a system for rapid exchange of information
under conditions set in accordance with the procedure
provided for in Article 23, with a view to expediting
transmission and dissemination of the alerts referred to
in paragraph 1 and the information referred to in
Article 8(1).

4. The Commission shall inform the European Parlia-
ment of measures taken to expedite the transmission and
dissemination of alerts.

(*) OJ L 125, 23.5.1996, p. 10.’;

6. Article 17(2) shall be replaced by the following:

‘2. Member States shall provide that officials responsible
for inspection are subject to professional confidentiality.
However, this provision shall not affect the possibility for
the competent authorities of
the Member States of
disseminating information necessary to prevent a serious
risk to human health, animal health or to the environ-
ment.’;

7. Article 22 shall be amended as follows:

(a)

the following sentence shall be added at the end of
paragraph 2:

‘This information shall be presented in the form of
annual reports in accordance with a specimen to be
drawn up pursuant to Article 23.’;

(b)

the following subparagraph shall be added at the
end of paragraph 3:

‘The overall summary report referred to in the
first subparagraph shall be communicated to the
European Parliament.’

Article 2

In Directive 70/524/EEC, Article 2(k) shall be replaced by the
following:

‘(k)

“putting into circulation” or “circulation”: the holding of
any product intended for animal nutrition for the pur-
poses of sale, including offering for sale, or any other
form of transfer, whether free or not, to third parties, and
the sale and other forms of transfer themselves.’

C 93/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

23.3.2001

Article 3

In Directive 96/25/EC, Article 2(b) shall be replaced by the
following:

‘(b)

“putting into circulation” or “circulation”: the holding of
any product intended for animal nutrition for the pur-
poses of sale, including offering for sale, or any other
form of transfer, whether free or not, to third parties, and
the sale and other forms of transfer themselves.’

Article 4

Article 12(3) and (4) of Directive 1999/29/EC is hereby
repealed.

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 reference shall be laid down by
Member States.

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission
the main provisions of national law which they adopt in the
field covered by this Directive.

Article 6

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

Article 5

This Directive is addressed to the Member States.

Article 7

1. Member States shall adopt and publish, not later than
... (*),
the laws, regulations and administrative provisions
necessary to comply with this Directive. They shall forthwith
inform the Commission thereof.

Done at Brussels ...

For the European Parliament

For the Council

They shall apply these provisions from ... (**).

The President

The President

(*) Twelve months after the entry into force of this Directive.
(**) Twenty months after the entry into force of this Directive.

23.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 93/7

STATEMENT OF THE COUNCIL’S REASONS

I.

INTRODUCTION

1. On 21 March 2000 the Commission submitted a proposal for a Directive of the European
Parliament and of the Council, based on Article 152(4) of the Treaty, amending Council
Directive 95/53/EC fixing the principles governing the organisation of official inspections in
the field of animal nutrition and Council Directive 1999/29/EC on undesirable substances and
products in animal nutrition.

2.

3.

The European Parliament delivered its first-reading opinion on 4 October 2000. The Economic
and Social Committee delivered its opinion on 20 September 2000. The Committee of the
Regions, duly consulted, did not take any action.

The Council adopted its Common Position at its meeting on 12 February 2001, in accordance
with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty.

II.

PURPOSE

The proposal for a Directive seeks to improve the effectiveness of inspections carried out to check
that legislation on the safety of products intended for animal nutrition is being applied.

The text provides, inter alia, for:

— the implementation in each Member State of contingency operational plans setting out the

measures to be taken if a serious health risk is detected,

— a safeguard clause enabling the Commission to take protective measures at an early stage,

— the setting-up, at Community level, of an information system for hazards from feedingstuffs.

III. ANALYSIS OF THE COMMON POSITION

A.

GENERAL COMMENTS

The Council, while confirming the objectives proposed by the Commission and supported by
Parliament, considered it necessary, when drawing up its Common Position, to make a number
of amendments to the proposal.

The Council’s amendments essentially set out to:

— specify the scope of certain provisions, especially those relating to emergency safeguard

measures and the information system,

— make the wording of the Directive more explicit in order to improve its legal clarity,

— ensure consistency of the different legislative texts on animal nutrition.

C 93/8

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

23.3.2001

It should also be noted that the Council added a reference in the title to Directives 70/524/EEC
and 96/25/EC: for reasons of legal consistency, the Council considered it necessary to include
in those two Directives the new definition, introduced in Directive 95/53/EC, of putting into
circulation products intended for animal nutrition.

B.

SPECIFIC COMMENTS

1. Main amendments to the Commission proposal

(a) Contingency operational plans drawn up by the Member States to deal with emergencies

(Article 1(2))

The Council reworded Article 4a proposed by the Commission in order to define
more clearly the demarcation of roles and responsibilities between the Commission
and the Member States in drawing up the Member States’ contingency operational
plans and to ensure that those plans offer equivalent guarantees of efficiency.

(b) Checks at places of destination (Article 1(3))

To improve the efficiency of random checks which the Member States may carry out
at places of destination to check the compliance of products with the Community
rules in the area of animal nutrition, the Council supplemented Article 12(1) of
Directive 95/53/EC with a provision enabling Member States to ask operators to
report the arrival of products which should be checked.

The Council takes the view, however, that the application of this provision should
not lead to any quantitative restrictions and should not jeopardise normal trading
relations. It therefore considers it necessary that Member States be informed, within
the Standing Committee for Feedingstuffs, whenever this possibility is availed of.

(c)

Safeguard clause (Article 1(4))

Article 15a of the Common Position allows the Commission to take all the necessary
precautionary measures if a serious health risk related to products intended for
animal nutrition appears in a Member State and cannot be contained satisfactorily
by that State. The Council has, however, reworded this article to make it more
consistent with the corresponding provisions introduced by Directive 2000/77/EC
of 14 December 2000 on the subject of products from non-member countries.

The following two procedures are laid down for taking such measures:

— the procedure laid down in Article 23 of Directive 95/53/EC which provides

for the involvement of the Standing Committee for Feedingstuffs,

— the emergency procedure, under which the Commission may adopt provisional
measures after simply consulting the Member State(s) concerned and informing
the others. It then has 10 days to submit the matter to the Standing Committee
for Feedingstuffs with a view to the extension, amendment or repeal of the
measures.

(d)

Information system for hazards from feedingstuffs (Article 1(5))

The Council considered it necessary to make extensive changes to the proposed
information system, for rapid and efficient information exchange, by dividing the
provisions adopted into three separate articles (Articles 16a, 16b and 16c).

23.3.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 93/9

In Article 16a, the Council first extended the scope of the information system to
consignments of products imported from non-member countries, considering that
the system would be incomplete if it was limited to products put into circulation in
the Community.

Moreover, this Article specifies the circumstances in which there is an information
requirement under the system and with whom the obligation lies.

As regards the persons who must supply the information required, the Council
wished to include persons carrying out health monitoring of holdings, without
prejudice, however, to the professional secrecy by which they are bound under
national law.

In Article 16b the Council
included most of the provisions proposed by the
Commission concerning the measures to be taken in the event that a consignment
of a product intended for animal nutrition poses a serious risk to health or the
environment, and merely added some clarifications.

Article 16c describes the measures which must be taken in the case of non-
compliance with the regulations governing animal nutrition.

(e) Member States’ annual reports on the implementation of their inspection programmes and

the Commission’s overall summary report (Article 1(7))

As regards the content of the annual reports, the text of the Common Position refers
to a specimen to be drawn up pursuant to Article 23 of Directive 95/53/EC. As for
the Commission’s overall summary report on the results of checks carried out at
Community level, the Council added to the text currently in force to provide also for
its transmission to the European Parliament.

2. Council position on the European Parliament amendments

The Council endorsed the Commission’s position in incorporating into its Common
Position, in part or in principle, Parliament amendments 2, 7, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23 and 25,
and not taking account of amendments 5, 14 and 22.

The Council’s reasons for not taking up the other amendments were as follows:

— the changes made to the text of the proposal for a Directive render amendments 1, 3

and 26 redundant,

— since the list of biological or chemical contaminants has already been established by
the Directive on undesirable substances and products in animal nutrition, there is no
point in referring to it as proposed in amendment 4,

— it was not considered necessary to state that the obligation to inform the authorities
under the information system must not be seen as encouraging denunciation, as
proposed in amendment 6, given that the obligation is on professionals and not on
the general public,

— amendments 8, 11, 12 and 13, which are essentially linguistic or stylistic, were not

considered indispensable for inclusion in the Common Position,

C 93/10

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

23.3.2001

— amendment 10 does not take account of the fundamental principles of the single
market according to which inspections are normally carried out in the products’
country of origin and only in exceptional cases at the place of destination or during
transit,

— amendments 15, 16 and 20 which aim to provide greater guarantees than the texts
they seek to amend no longer seem necessary in the light of the changes made by the
Council.