CELEX: 51996PC0460(02)
Language: en
Date: 1996-10-02
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) regarding the labelling of beef and beef products

Avis juridique important

|

51996PC0460(02)

Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) regarding the labelling of beef and beef products  /* COM/96/0460 FINAL - CNS 96/0229 */  

Official Journal C 349 , 20/11/1996 P. 0014

Proposal for a Council Regulation (EC)  regarding the labelling of beef and beef products (96/C  349/10) COM(96) 460 final - 96/0229(CNS)(Submitted by the Commission on 2 October 1996) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 43  thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament, Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee, Whereas in order to improve the information to consumers about consumer-relevant aspects of beef  and beef products, a specific labelling system should be set up in the beef sector; whereas beef  and beef products shall be taken to mean certain products referred to in Article 1 (1) of Council  Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 of 27 June 1968 on the common organization of the market in beef and  veal  (1); whereas Member States may decide to extend the labelling system to other processed goods  containing beef; Whereas such a labelling system should be optional to operators and organizations marketing beef  and beef products in the sense that operators and organizations wishing to label their beef and  beef products shall do so in accordance with this Regulation; Whereas the provisions of this Regulation should not undermine existing Community legislation in  the fields of labelling and control of foodstuffs, protection of geographical indications and  designations of origin, measures to promote and market quality beef and veal and rules governing  health problems affecting intra-Community trade in meat and meat products; Whereas an efficient labelling system depends on the possibility of tracing back any labelled beef  or beef products to the animal or animals of origin; whereas the labelling arrangements of an  operator or organization shall only be accepted once a specification has been submitted to and  approved by the competent authority; Whereas in order to identify properly the person responsible for the information indicated on the  label, operators and organizations shall only be entitled to label beef and beef products provided  that the label contains its name and logo; whereas it shall be specified what kind of information  the label may contain; Whereas operators and organizations importing beef and beef products from third countries into the  Community may also wish to label their products according to this Regulation; whereas provisions  should thus be made for imported beef to be included in the labelling system; whereas these  provisions must ensure that labelling arrangements relating to imported beef and beef products be  of equivalent reliability as those set up for Community beef; Whereas with a view to guaranteeing the reliability of the labelling arrangements in place, it is  necessary to oblige the Member States to carry out adequate and efficient control measures; whereas  these controls shall be without prejudice to any controls which the Commission may carry out by  analogy with Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December 1995 on the  protection of the European Communities financial interests  (1); whereas the competent authorities  of the Member States shall be authorized to withdraw their approval of any specification in the  event of irregularities, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 1.  If an operator or an organization, as defined in Article 2,  wishes to label beef or beef products in a detailed manner at the point of sale, it shall do so in  accordance with this Regulation. 2.  Notwithstanding paragraph 1, the following shall continue to apply: - Council Regulation No 26 of 4 April 1962 applying certain rules of competition to production of  and trade in agricultural products  (2), - Council Directive 64/433/EEC of 26 June 1964 on health condition for the production and marketing  of fresh meat  (3), - Council Directive 77/99/EEC of 21 December 1976 on health problems affecting intra-Community  trade in meat products  (4), - Council Directive 79/112/EEC of 18 December 1978 on the approximation of the laws of the Member  States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs for sale to the  ultimate consumer  (5), - Council Directive 93/99/EEC of 29 October 1992 on additional measures concerning the official  control of foodstuffs  (6), - Council Directive 94/65/EEC of 14 December 1994 laying down the requirements for the production  and placing on the market of minced meat and meat preparations  (7), - Council Regulation (EEC) No 1208/81 of 28 April 1981 determining the Community scale for the  classification of carcases of adult bovine animals  (8), - Council Regulation (EEC) No 1186/90 of 7 May 1990 extending the scope of the Community scale for  the classification of carcases of adult bovine animals  (9), - Council Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 of 14 July 1992 on protection of geographical indications and  designations of origin  (10), - Council Regulation (EEC) No 2082/92 of 14 July 1992 on certificates of specific character for  agricultural products and foodstuffs  (11), - Council Regulation (EEC) No 2067/92 of 30 June 1992 on the measures to promote and market quality  beef and veal  (1). Article 2 For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply: - 'beef and beef products` means the products referred to in Article 1 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No  805/68 other than CN codes 0102  90  05 to 0102  90  79 and 0102  10, - 'label` means a label attached to an individual piece or pieces of meat or to their packaging  material, or information provided to the consumer at the point of sale, - 'organization` means a group of operators from the same or different parts of the beef trade. Member States may decide to extend this system to processed goods containing products referred to  in the first indent, including cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. Article 3 1.  Each operator or organization shall submit a specification for approval to the  competent authority of each Member State in which production or sale of the beef or beef products  in question takes place. Such specification shall indicate: - the information to be included on the label, - the measures to be taken to ensure the accuracy of this information, - the control system which will be applied at all stages or production and sale, including controls  to be carried out by an independent body to be nominated by the operator or the organization, - in the case of an organization, the measures which would be taken in relation to any member which  failed to comply with the specification. 2.  The approval of any specification shall be subject to the assurance of the competent authority,  obtained on the basis of a thorough examination of its components as referred to in paragraph 1, of  the proper and reliable functioning of the labelling system envisaged and, in particular, of its  control system. Any specification which does not ensure a link being made between identification of  the carcase, quarter, pieces of meat and meat products and the individual animal, or in the case of  pieces of meat and meat products the animals concerned, shall be refused. 3.  Where the production and/or sale of beef or beef products takes place in two or more Member  States, the competent authorities of the Member States concerned shall examine and approve the  specifications submitted in so far as the elements contained therein relate to operations taking  place within their respective territory. In this event, every Member State concerned shall  recognize the approvals granted by any other Member State concerned. 4.  Where the competent authorities of all the Member States concerned approve the specification  submitted, the operator or organization concerned shall be entitled to label beef and beef  products, provided that the label contains its name or logo. Any entitlement shall apply without prejudice to the respect of Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No  2081/92 and of Article 13 of Regulation (EEC) No 2082/92. Article 4 1.  Where, in full or in part, the production of beef or beef products takes place in a  third country, operators and organizations shall only be entitled to label beef and beef products  according to this Regulation, if, in addition to the observance of the requirements set out in  Article 3, they have obtained approval of their specifications by the competent authority  designated to this end by each third country concerned. 2.  The validity within the Community of any approval granted by a third country shall be subject  to prior notification by the third country to the Commission: - of the competent authority which is designated, - of the procedures and criteria to be followed by the competent authority when examining the  specification, - of each operator and organization to which the competent authority has granted approval of their  specification. The Commission shall transmit these notifications to the Member States. Where, on the basis of the above notifications, the Commission arrives at the conclusion that the  procedures and/or criteria applied in a third country are not equivalent to the standards set out  in this Regulation, the Commission shall, after consultation with the third country concerned,  decide that approvals granted by the third country concerned shall not be valid within the  Community. Article 5 1.  A label shall not contain any information relating to the animal from which the  beef or beef products originate other than that which appears in the following list: - Member State, region of a Member State or third country of birth, the sex of the animal, - method of fattening, - other information in relation to feeding, - Member States, regions of Member States or third countries where all, or at least 80  %, of the  fattening took place, - information on the slaughtering, like the Member State or region of a Member State or third  country where slaughter took place, the age at slaughter and the date of slaughter or the period  during which the beef was hung, - information on methods of boning and cutting like mechanical recovery, types of meat and the  content, - any other information the operator or the organization wishes to indicate and agreed by the  competent authority concerned. 2.  Where beef and beef products contain meat from different animals is mixed, the label shall only  contain information in accordance with paragraph 1 which is common to all such meat. Article 6 Member States shall take all the necessary administrative and control measures to  ensure compliance with the provisions of this Regulation. These measures shall be without prejudice  to any controls which the Commission shall be authorized to carry out by analogy with Article  9 of  Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95. Article 7 Where it is shown that an operator or organization has failed to comply with the  specification referred to in Article 3 (1), the Member State may withdraw its approval under  Article 3 (3) or impose supplementary conditions to be respected in the case of maintenance of its  approval. Article 8 The Commission shall adopt detailed rules for the application of this Regulation in  accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 27 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68. The detailed  rules may cover, in particular, the information which may be contained on labels under Article 5. Article 9 The Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the  Official Journal of the European Communities. It shall apply from 1 January 1997. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all  Member States.(1) OJ No L 148, 28. 6. 1968, p. 24. Regulation as last amended  by Regulation (EC) No 1357/96 (OJ No L 175, 13. 7. 1996, p. 9).  (1) OJ No L 312, 23. 12. 1995, p. 1.  (2) OJ No 30, 20. 4. 1962, p. 993/62. Regulation as last amended by Regulation No 49 (OJ No 53, 1.  7. 1962, p.  1571/62).  (3) OJ No 121, 29. 7. 1964, p. 2012/64.  (4) OJ No L 26, 31. 1. 1977, p. 85.    (5) OJ No L 33, 8. 2. 1979, p. 1.    (6) OJ No L 290, 24. 11. 1993, p. 14.    (7) OJ No L 368, 31. 12. 1994, p. 10.    (8) OJ No L 123, 7. 5. 1981, p. 3.    (9) OJ No L 119, 11. 5. 1990, p. 32.  (10) OJ No L 208, 24. 7. 1992, p. 1.  (11) OJ No L 208, 24. 7. 1992, p. 9.  (1) OJ No L 215, 30. 7. 1992, p. 57.