CELEX: 51986PC0747
Language: en
Date: 1986-12-23
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ON THE OFFICIAL INSPECTION OF FOODSTUFFS

No C 20/6                               Official Journal of the European Communities                                  27.1 87
                            Proposal for a Council Directive on the official inspection of foodstuffs
                                                       COM(86)     747final
                              (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 30 December 1986)
                                                          (87/C 20/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            Whereas although, on the one hand, undertakings
                                                                    should not have the right to oppose the inspections, on
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European               the other hand, their legitimate rights must be preserved,
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100                   in particular the right to manufacturing secrecy and the
thereof,                                                            right of appeal;
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                  Whereas the authorities made responsible for the
                                                                    inspection of foodstuffs may differ from one Member
                                                                    State to another; whereas it is, therefore, necessary to
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-
                                                                    publish a list of the competent authorities in the field in
liament,
                                                                    each Member State, with an indication of the territories
                                                                    for which they are competent, and approved laboratories
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                    for the analyses to be carried out in connection with
Social Committee,                                                   such inspections;
Whereas trade in foodstuffs is one of the most important            Whereas official inspections should be preventive rather
aspects of the common market;                                       than punitive in nature; whereas forward inspection
                                                                    programmes should therefore be drawn up at national
Whereas all the Member States wish to protect the                   level; whereas the Commission should be kept informed
health and the economic interests of their consumers by             of the content of these programmes and their results;
suitable inspections of foodstuffs;
                                                                    Whereas the Member States should be allowed a certain
Whereas, however, the differences between the national              degree of freedom as to the practical means of carrying
legislations with respect to this type of inspection are            out inspections so as not to interfere with systems of
such as to represent barriers to the free movement of               proven worth which are best suited to the particular
goods;                                                              situation in each Member State,
Whereas it is therefore necessary to approximate these              HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE :
legislations;
                                                                                              Article 1
Whereas, first of all, the general principles governing the
carrying out of such inspections must be harmonized;                1.    This Directive lays down the general principles for
                                                                    the performance of official inspections of foodstuffs.
Whereas specific provisions in addition to the general
principles may, if necessary, be adopted subsequently;              2.    For the purposes of this Directive 'official
                                                                    inspection of foodstuffs' — hereinafter called 'inspection'
Whereas, at the same time as foodstuffs, materials and             — means an inspection by the competent authorities of
articles intended to come into contact with such                    the conformity
foodstuffs must be inspected;
                                                                    — of foodstuffs,
Whereas foodstuffs intended to cross intra-Community                — of materials and articles intended to come into
frontiers must be inspected in the same manner as those                 contact with foodstuffs,
intended for marketing in the Member State of
production;                                                         with the provisions aimed at preventing risks to public
                                                                    health or fraud in the matter of labelling and pres-
Whereas, to be effective, inspections must be carried out           entation.
regularly; whereas they must not be limited as to the
subject, stage or moment at which it is convenient to               3.    This Directive shall apply without prejudice to the
carry them out, and whereas they must take the most                 provisions adopted in the context of more specific
suitable forms to guarantee their effectiveness;                    Community rules.
Whereas     the  inspectors   must be granted       adequate        4.    This Directive shall not apply to       metrological
powers;                                                             inspections.
 ---pagebreak--- 27.1. 87                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                                N o C 20/7
                           Article 2                                — interviews of the head of the undertaking and his
                                                                         staff,
1.     Member States shall take all necessary measures to
ensure that inspections are carried out in conformity
with this Directive.                                                — the reading of values recorded by measuring in-
                                                                         struments installed by the undertaking.
2.     Member States shall ensure that products intended
for consignment to another Member State are inspected
in the same way as those intended for marketing on their                                      Article 6
own territory.                                                      1.     Samples of the products enumerated in Article 5 (1)
                                                                    (b) to (e) may be taken for the purposes of analysis.
                           Article 3
1.     Inspections shall be carried out:                            2.     The analyses shall be carried out by official labora-
(a) regularly;                                                      tories or laboratories approved by the competent
                                                                    authority.
(b) where non-conformity is suspected.
2.     Inspection shall cover all stages of production,                                       Article 7
manufacture, import into the Community, processing,
storage, transport, distribution and trade.                         Persons who, in the exercise of their activity, come into
                                                                    contact, whether directly or indirectly, with the materials
The competent authority shall, in each case, select the             and articles referred to in Article 5 (1) (b) to (e) shall be
stage which it considers the most appropriate for its               subject to examination.
examination from those listed in the first subparagraph.
It shall take all necessary measures to ensure that
inspections are performed as quickly as possible.                   The purpose of the examination shall be to check that
                                                                    the health standards concerning personal cleanliness and
                           Article 4                                clothing are respected. It shall be carried out without
                                                                    prejudice to medical examinations.
Inspection shall comprise one or more of the following
operations in accordance with the conditions laid down
in Articles 5 to 8 in the light of the examination to be                                      Article 8
carried out:
                                                                    1.     The agents responsible for the inspection may take
(1) inspection;                                                     note of written and documentary material held by the
                                                                    physical and legal persons at the various stages enum-
(2) sampling and analysis;
                                                                    erated in Article 3 (2). Written and documentary
(3) examination of the staff;                                       material dealing with manufacturing processes shall not,
                                                                    however, be subject to this examination.
(4) examination of written and documentary material;
 (5) examination of any verification systems set up by the
                                                                    2.     The agents responsible for the inspection may also
      undertaking.
                                                                    make copies or take extracts of written and documentary
                                                                    material submitted to them for examination.
                           Article 5
 1.    The following shall be subject to inspection:
                                                                                               Article 9
 (a) the state and use which is made at the different
      stages enumerated in Article 3 (2) of the site,                1.     Member States shall ensure that the responsible for
      premises, offices, plant, means of transport,                  the inspection have the right to carry out the operations
      machinery and equipment;                                       provided for in Articles 5 to 8.
 (b) raw       materials,   ingredients,     additives    and
      technological aids used for the manufacture of                 2.     Member States shall prescribe that the physical and
      foodstuffs;                                                    legal persons concerned shall be obliged to undergo any
                                                                     inspection carried out in conformity with this Directive
 (c) semi-finished products;                                         and to assist the agents responsible for the inspection in
 (d) finished products;                                              the accomplishment of their tasks.
 (e) cleaning and maintenance products;
 (f) processes used for the manufacture or processing of                                      Article 10
      foodstuffs;                                                     1.    Member States shall take the measures to ensure
  (g) labelling and presentation of foodstuffs.                      that physical and legal persons concerned by the
                                                                     inspection have a right of appeal with a view to the canc-
 2.     The operations enumerated in paragraph 1 may,                ellation or modification of measures taken by the
 where necessary, be supplemented by:                                 competent authority subsequent to the inspection.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 20/8                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                    27.1.87
2.    Member States shall prescribe that the agents               —*- a list of the competent authorities and the extent of
responsible for the inspection shall be bound by pro-                 their territorial responsibility,
fessional secrecy.
                                                                  — a list of the official laboratories or laboratories
                         Article 11                                   approved by the competent authorities, which are
                                                                      responsible for carrying out analyses in connection
1.    Competent authorities in the Member States shall                with the inspections,
draw up each year a forward programme for sampling,
laying down the minimum number of samples to be                   These lists shall be published in the C series of the
taken for each category of foodstuffs. This number shall          Official Journal of the European Communities.
be determined in the light of the importance of these
categories.
                                                                                             Article 13
Member States shall communicate this programme to the
                                                                  Member States shall bring into force by [twelve months
Commission.
                                                                  after notification of this Directive] at the latest the laws,
2.    Each year, before 1 May, Member States shall send           regulations and administrative provisions necessary to
the Commission details of how the plan provided for in            conform to this Directive [not later than twenty-four
paragraph 1 is being applied, the number of inspections           months after its notification].
carried out and the number of infringements found.
                                                                  They shall forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
                         Article 12
                                                                                             Article 14
Each Member        State    shall   communicate    to    the
Commission:                                                       This Directive is addressed to the Member States.