2003/321/EC: Commission Decision of 12 May 2003 on transitional measures under Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the processing standards for mammalian blood (Text with EEA relevance) (notified under document number C(2003) 1491)
Date: 2003-05-12
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: animal product, health control, health legislation, standard, waste, waste recycling

L 117/30

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

13.5.2003

COMMISSION DECISION

of 12 May 2003

on transitional measures under Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 of the European Parliament and of
the Council as regards the processing standards for mammalian blood

(notified under document number C(2003) 1491)

(Only the English, German, Spanish and Italian texts are authentic)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2003/321/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Article 1

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 of
the
European Parliament and of the Council of 3 October 2002
laying down health rules concerning animal by-products not
intended for human consumption (1), and in particular Article
32(1) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 provides for a complete
revision of Community rules concerning animal by-
products not
for human consumption,
including the introduction of a number of strict require-
ments. In addition, it provides that appropriate transi-
tional measures may be adopted.

intended

transitional measures

In view of the strict nature of those requirements, it is
necessary to provide for
for
Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom in order
to allow industry sufficient time to adjust. In addition,
alternative
storage, handling,
processing and uses for animal by-products need to be
further developed as well as disposal methods for those
by-products.

collection,

transport,

Accordingly, as a temporary measure a derogation
should be granted to Germany, Spain,
Italy and the
United Kingdom to enable them to authorise operators
to continue to apply national rules for the processing
standards for mammalian blood.

In order to prevent a risk to animal and public health
appropriate control systems should be maintained in
Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom for the
period of the transitional measures.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accor-
dance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on
the Food Chain and Animal Health,

(1) OJ L 273, 10.10.2002, p. 1.

Derogation regarding the processing of blood of mamma-
lian origin

Pursuant to Article 32(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002
and by way of derogation from paragraph 1 of Chapter II of
Annex VII to that Regulation, Germany, Spain, Italy and the
United Kingdom may continue to grant individual approvals
until 31 December 2004 at the latest to operators of premises
and facilities to apply processing methods 2 to 5 or 7 of Annex
V to that Regulation for the processing of blood of mammalian
origin, provided that:

(a) the premises, raw material, processing standards, processed
products and storage comply with the requirements set out
in Chapter I and the other provisions of Chapter II of
Annex VII to Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002; and

(b) the processing methods are applied in premises and facil-
ities that applied those methods on 1 November 2002.

Article 2

Control measures

The competent authority shall take the necessary measures to
control compliance by authorised operators of premises and
facilities with the conditions set out in Article 1.

Article 3

Withdrawal of approvals and disposal of material not
complying with this Decision

1.
Individual approvals by the competent authority for the
use of methods 2 to 5 or 7 for the processing of mammalian
blood shall be immediately and permanently withdrawn in
respect of any operator, premises or facilities if the conditions
set out in this Decision are no longer fulfilled.

The competent authority shall withdraw any approvals

2.
granted under Article 1 by 31 December 2004 at the latest.

13.5.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 117/31

The competent authority shall not grant a final approval under
Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 unless on its basis of its inspec-
tions it is satisfied that the premises and facilities referred to in
Article 1 meet all the requirements of that Regulation.

3.
Any material that does not comply with the requirements
of this Decision shall be disposed of in accordance with the
instructions of the competent authority.

Article 5

Applicability

This Decision shall apply from 1 May 2003 to 31 December
2004.

Article 6

Addressees

Article 4

This Decision is addressed to the Federal Republic of Germany,
the Kingdom of Spain, the Italian Republic and the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Compliance with this Decision by the concerned Member
States

Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom shall
imme-
diately take the necessary measures to comply with this Deci-
sion and shall publish those measures. They shall immediately
inform the Commission thereof.

Done at Brussels, 12 May 2003.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission