Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council correcting Directive 2002/2/EC amending Council Directive 79/373/EEC on the circulation of compound feedingstuffs
Date: 2006-06-27
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: animal nutrition, consumer information, labelling, manufactured feedingstuffs, marketing, raw material

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 27.6.2006 
COM(2006) 340 final 

2006/0117 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

correcting Directive 2002/2/EC amending Council Directive 79/373/EEC on the 
circulation of compound feedingstuffs 

(presented by the Commission) 

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EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM 

1. 

Directive 2002/2/EC 

Directive  2002/2/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  28  January 
20021  amended  Council  Directive  79/373/EEC  on  the  circulation  of  compound 
feedingstuffs2, as regards labelling provisions. 

In  particular,  Article  1(4)  of  Directive  2002/2/EC,  which  replaces  Article  5c  of 
Directive 79/373/EEC, provides for the compulsory declaration of the percentages of 
feed materials present in compound feedingstuffs other than pet food in descending 
order by weight, with a tolerance of +/- 15 % of the declared value. 

In addition, Article 1(1)(b) of Directive 2002/2/EC, which adds a point (l) to Article 
5(1) of Directive 79/373/EEC, requires the communication of the exact percentages 
by  weight  of  feed  materials  used  in  the  compound  feedingstuffs,  at  the  customer’s 
request. 

2. 

Judgment of the Court of Justice of 6 December 2005 

References for preliminary rulings under Article 234 of the EC Treaty were brought 
to  the  Court  of  Justice  by  courts  of  United  Kingdom,  Italy  and  the  Netherlands, 
which centred essentially on the validity of Directive 2002/2/EC, in particular Article 
1(1) (b) and 1(4) thereof. 

Those  references  have  been  made  in  the  context  of  the  examination  of  requests  by 
manufacturers of compound feedingstuffs or representatives of that industry for the 
annulment  or  suspension  of  the  rules  adopted  for  the  purpose  of  transposing  in 
national law the contested provisions of Directive 2002/2/EC. 

In  its  judgment  adopted  on  6  December  20053,  the  Court  of  Justice  rejected  the 
arguments put forward to contest the validity of the legal basis (Article 152(4)(b) of 
the  EC  Treaty)  used  for  the  adoption  of  Directive  2002/2/EC  and  supported  the 
position defended by the institutions.  

Also, the  Court turned down  the  arguments  submitted  to  contest  the validity  of  the 
Directive in the light of the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination. 

Examination by the Court of the arguments concerning the respect of the principle of 
proportionality  has  not  revealed  any  factor  affecting  the  validity  of  Article  1(4)  of 
Directive  2002/2/EC.  However,  the  Court  ruled  that  in  the  light  of  that  principle, 
Article 1(1)(b) of the Directive was invalid. 

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OJ L 63, 6.3.2002, p. 23. 
OJ  L  86,  6.4.1979,  p.  30.  Directive  as  last  amended  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  807/2003  (OJ  L  122, 
16.5.2003, p. 36). 
Joined  Cases  C-453/03,  C-11/04,  C-12/04  and  C-194-04  ABNA  and  Others,  not  yet  published  in  the 
Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance. 

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The Court considered indeed that the obligation to inform customers, on request, of 
the exact quantitative composition of compound feedingstuffs could not be justified 
by the objective of protecting public health which was being pursued and manifestly 
went beyond what is necessary to attain that objective4. 

3. 

Proposal 

In accordance with Article 233 of the EC Treaty, laying down that institutions whose 
act  has  been  declared  void  are  required  to  take  the  necessary  measures  to  comply 
with  the  judgment  of  the  Court  of  Justice,  it  is  proposed  to  correct  Directive 
2002/2/EC  through  a  Decision  deleting  the  invalid  provision,  i.e.  Article  1(1)(b)  of 
the Directive. 

For the sake of consistency, any reference made to the deleted provision should also 
be  removed.  Therefore,  any  reference  to  Article  5(1)(l)  of  Directive  79/373/EEC, 
which was added by Article 1(1)(b) of Directive 2002/2/EC, should be deleted. This 
is  the  case  in  Article  1(6)  of  Directive  2002/2/EC,  inserting  an  Article  15a  to 
Directive  79/373/EEC.  The  text  of  this  provision  should  therefore  be  adapted 
accordingly. 

The  form  of  the  draft  proposal  is  a  correcting  Decision,  taking  account  of  the 
principle  that  amending  acts  should  not  be  amended  themselves  but  that  they  may 
however  be  corrected.  It  is  proposed  to  correct  the  Directive  through  a  Decision, 
which will guarantee transparency and clarity of Community law while at the same 
time not imposing a direct obligation on the Member States to change their national 
legislation,  as  they  are  in  any  case  obliged  to  take  all  appropriate  measures  under 
their  national  legal  systems  to  ensure  fulfilment  of  the  Court’s  judgment,  in 
accordance with Article 10 of the EC Treaty. 

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Cfr. in particular points 79 to 85 of the judgment. 

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2006/0117 (COD) 

Proposal for a 

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 

correcting Directive 2002/2/EC amending Council Directive 79/373/EEC on the 
circulation of compound feedingstuffs 

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 

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

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission5, 

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee6, 

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions7, 

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty8, 

Whereas: 

(1) 

The Court of Justice of the European Communities, in its judgment handed down on 6 
December 2005 in Joined Cases C-453/03, C-11/04, C-12/04 and C-194/049, declared 
invalid Article 1(1)(b) of Directive 2002/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the 
Council10,  which  amended  Council  Directive  79/373/EEC11,  in  the  light  of  the 
principle  of  proportionality.  That  provision  added  a  point  (l)  in  Article  5(1)  of 
Directive  79/373/EEC  requiring  manufacturers  of  compound  animal  feedingstuffs  to 
indicate, at the customer’s request, the exact composition of a feedingstuff. 

(2) 

Article 233 of the Treaty requires the institutions whose act has been declared void to 
take the necessary measures to comply with the judgment of the Court of Justice. 

(3) 

Directive 2002/2/EC should therefore be corrected, 

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OJ C , , p. . 
OJ C , , p. . 
OJ C , , p. . 
OJ C , , p. . 
ABNA and Others, not yet published in the Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the Court 
of First Instance. 
OJ L 63, 6.3.2002, p. 23. 
OJ  L  86,  6.4.1979,  p.  30.  Directive  as  last  amended  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  807/2003  (OJ  L  122, 
16.5.2003, p. 36). 

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HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION: 

Directive 2002/2/EC is corrected as follows: 

Article 1 

(1) 

(2) 

Article 1(1)(b) is deleted. 

In Article 1(6), in the text of Article 15a of Directive 79/373/EEC, the words “Article 
5(1)(j) and (l)” are replaced by the words “Article 5(1)(j)”. 

This Decision shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official 
Journal of the European Union. 

Article 2 

Article 3 

This Decision is addressed to the Member States. 

Done at Brussels, 

For the European Parliament 
The President 

For the Council 
The President 

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