Proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision 95/408/EC on the conditions for drawing up, for an interim period, provisional lists of third country establishments from which Member States are authorised to import certain products of animal origin, fishery products or live bivalve molluscs, as regards the extension of its validity
Date: 2003-11-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: animal product, application of the law, drafting of EU law, fishery product, health control, import (EU), third country

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 3.11.2003
COM(2003) 652 final

Proposal for a

COUNCIL DECISION

amending Decision 95/408/EC on the conditions for drawing up, for an interim period,
provisional lists of third country establishments from which Member States are
authorised to import certain products of animal origin, fishery products or live bivalve
molluscs, as regards the extension of its validity

(presented by the Commission)

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

Council  Decision  95/408/EC,  on  the  conditions  for  drawing  up,  for  an  interim  period,
provisional lists of third countries establishments from which Member States are authorised to
import certain products of  animal origin, fishery  products or  live  bivalve  molluscs1,  expires
on 31 December 2003.

The  Commission  proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council
laying  down  specific  rules  for  the  organisation  of  official  controls  on  products  of  animal
origin intended for human consumption2, proposes a new procedure for drawing up the list of
third  countries  and  third  countries  establishments.  This  proposal  is  currently  at  the  stage  of
common  position  but  it  is  not  scheduled  to  be  adopted  until  mid-1994,  at  the  earliest.  The
problem,  therefore,  is  to  bridge  the  gap  between  31  December  2003  and  the  adoption  and
entry into force of the mentioned proposal. This is the intention of the proposal.

To  illustrate  the importance  of  Decision 95/408  and the need  to  extend  its validity until the
adoption and entering into force of the new provisions, we note that this Decision;

(cid:1)  is the legal basis regulating the imports of a total of 19 products of animal origin,

(cid:1)  affects the imports from around 120 third countries,

(cid:1)  concerns the authorisation of import from more than 16 000 establishments and vessels.

The  provisions  to  replace  Decision  95/408  are  contained  in  the  Chapter  III  of  the  draft
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down specific rules for the
organisation  of  official  controls  on  products  of  animal  origin  intended  for  human
consumption. In particular:

(cid:1)  Art 11 proposes the procedure for the listing of third countries.

(cid:1)  Art 12 proposes the procedure for the listing of establishments, and

(cid:1)  Arts  13  and  15  propose  the  particular  requirements  to  authorise  the  imports  of  bivalve

molluscs and fishery products, respectively.

1

2

OJ  L  243,  11.10.1995, p.  17.  Decision  as  last  amended  by  Regulation  (EC)  N°  806/2003  (OJ  L  122,
16.5.2003, p.1)
OJ C 262 E, 29.10.2002, p. 449.

2

                                                
To avoid a possible overlap of the provision of Dec 95/408 with those of the future regulation
on  controls,  the  Commission  has  presented  to  the  Council  a  proposal3  for  a  Directive
repealing certain  Directives  and  amending Decision  95/408/EC.  This  proposal  is  also  at  the
stage of common position and is scheduled to be adopted at the same time that the proposal
on controls. Article 6 proposes the end of Decision 95/408 at the same date of application of
Regulation on control.

3

Commission proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council repealing certain
Directives concerning food hygiene and health conditions for the production and placing on the market
of  certain  products  of  animal  origin  intended  for  human  consumption,  and  amending  Directives
89/662/EEC and 92/118/EEC and Decision 95/408/EC. OJ C 365 E, 19.12.2000, p. 43

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Proposal for a

COUNCIL DECISION

amending Decision 95/408/EC on the conditions for drawing up, for an interim period,
provisional lists of third country establishments from which Member States are
authorised to import certain products of animal origin, fishery products or live bivalve
molluscs, as regards the extension of its validity

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to Council Decision 95/408/EC of 22 June 1995 on the conditions for drawing
up,  for  an  interim  period,  provisional  lists  of  third  country  establishments  from  which
Member States are authorised to import certain products of animal origin, fishery products or
live bivalve molluscs4, and in particular Article 9 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission5,

Whereas:

(1) 

Decision 95/408/EC expires on 31 December 2003.

(2) 

The  Commission  proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the
Council laying down detailed rules for the organisation of official controls on products
of  animal  origin  intended  for  human  consumption6  (“the  Regulation  for  the
organization of official controls”) provides for a new procedure for drawing up lists of
establishments in  third  countries  intended  to  replace  the  rules  laid  down  in  Decision
95/408/EC.

(3) 

The validity of Decision 95/408/EC should be extended to bridge the gap between the
expiry of that Decision and the entry into force of the Regulation for the organisation
of official controls.

(4) 

Decision 95/408/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

In Article 9 of Decision 95/408/EC the date “31 December 2003” shall be replaced by that of
“31 December 2005”.

Article 1

4

5

6

OJ L 243, 11.10.1995, p. 17, as last amended by Regulation (EC) N° 806/2003 (OJ L 122, 16.5.2003,
p.1).
OJ C , , p. .
COM (2002) 377 final – OJ C 262 E, 29.10.2002, p. 449.

4

                                                
Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels,

For the Council
The President

5