WRITTEN QUESTION E-3035/03 by Marit Paulsen (ELDR) to the Commission. Traceability requirement under Article 18(2) of Regulation (EC) 178/2002.
Date: 2003-10-17
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EC Regulation, animal nutrition, food safety, foodstuff, foodstuffs legislation, human nutrition, interpretation of the law, traceability

C 70 E/202

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

20.3.2004

Answer given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(20 November 2003)

The Commission is in the process of obtaining the necessary information to answer your question and will
inform you of the results of its inquiries as soon as possible.

(2004/C 70 E/218)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3035/03

by Marit Paulsen (ELDR) to the Commission

(17 October 2003)

Subject: Traceability requirement under Article 18(2) of Regulation (EC) 178/2002

Article 18(2) of the EU’s Regulation (EC) 178/2002 (1) laying down the general principles and requirements
of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of
food safety (the General Food Regulation) states that food and feed business operators shall be able to
identify ‘any person’ [in the Swedish text ‘alla personer’, literally ‘all persons’] from whom they have been
supplied with a food, a feed, a food-producing animal, or any substance intended to be, or expected to be,
incorporated into a food or feed.

However, the English phrase ‘any person’ used here would most closely be translated in Swedish with ‘varje
person’ (‘each person’).

With every respect for the translation preferences of the EC Court of Justice, how, in the Commission’s
view, should this point be interpreted? Is any distinction intended, or is this merely a linguistic
discrepancy?

(1) OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(2 December 2003)

The traceability requirement as set up by Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the Parliament and
of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law,
establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety (the
General Food Law Regulation) is limited to the identification of the immediate supplier of a particular
product and its immediate subsequent recipient.

The said provision does not require food and feed business operators to be able to follow the path of a
particular product or ingredient
through identification of all preceding suppliers and all succeeding
customers throughout the whole supply chain.

The legislation relies on a one up, one down approach between businesses to ensure full chain traceability.

Any linguistic version, which would risk altering the meaning and scope of the general traceability
requirement as outlined above, should be considered as a purely linguistic discrepancy and not as an
intended distinction in terms of substance.

However, in the case of the Swedish text, ‘alla personer’ or ‘varje person’ are two equivalent expressions
that both conform to the ‘one up, one down’ approach. The use of either of them does not alter the
meaning of the phrase. Similar stylistic differences exist in the Danish and Dutch versions.