Commission Regulation (EC) No 223/2003 of 5 February 2003 on labelling requirements related to the organic production method for feedingstuffs, compound feedingstuffs and feed materials and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 (Text with EEA relevance)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 223/2003
of 5 February 2003
on labelling requirements related to the organic production method for feedingstuffs, compound feedingstuffs and feed materials and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 of 24 June 1991 on organic production of agricultural products and indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs(1), as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 473/2002(2), and in particular Article 1(3) and the second indent of Article 13 thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Under Article 1(3) of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 a Regulation must be adopted providing for labelling requirements as well as inspection requirements and precautionary measures for feedingstuffs, compound feedingstuffs and feed materials, as far as these requirements are related to the organic production method.
(2) The petfood market and the market in feed for fur animals are separate from the market in feedingstuffs for other farmed livestock. Moreover, the labelling, production and inspection rules provided for in Articles 5, 6, 8 and 9 respectively of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 do not apply to aquaculture animals or aquaculture products. This Regulation should therefore apply only to feedingstuffs for organically-reared livestock, excluding petfood, feed for fur animals and feed for aquaculture animals.
(3) The specific measures on labelling feedingstuffs for organically-reared livestock must allow producers to identify feed that may be used in accordance with the provisions on the organic production method. The indication referring to the organic production method should not be presented in a way that draws more attention to it than to the description or the name of the feedingstuff referred to respectively in Council Directive 79/373/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the marketing of compound feedingstuffs(3), as last amended by Directive 2002/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(4), and in Council Directive 96/25/EC of 29 April 1996 on the circulation and use of feed materials, amending Directives 70/524/EEC, 74/63/EEC, 82/471/EEC and 93/74/EEC and repealing Directive 77/101/EEC(5), as last amended by Directive 2001/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(6).
(4) The percentage of organically-produced feed materials, the percentage of in-conversion products and the total percentage of feedingstuffs of agricultural origin should moreover be indicated by weight of dry matter so that producers may comply with the daily rationing rules laid down in Part B of Annex I to Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91. Part B of Annex I to that Regulation should therefore be amended also.
(5) A number of trade marks of products intended for animal feed which do not meet the requirements of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 carry indications which may be considered by operators to be a reference to the organic production method. Provision should be made for a transitional period to allow holders of those trade marks to adapt to the new rules. However, this transitional period should be granted only to trade marks bearing the above indications where an application for registration was made before the publication of Council Regulation (EC) No 1804/1999 of 19 July 1999 supplementing Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 to include livestock production(7), and where the operator has been duly informed of the fact that the products have not been produced by the organic production method.
(6) The minimum inspection requirements and precautionary measures applicable to units preparing feedingstuffs require the implementation of special measures, which should be incorporated into Annex III to Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91.
(7) The principle of separating all equipment used in units preparing organic compound feedingstuffs from equipment used in the same unit for conventional compound feedingstuffs is considered to be an effective means of preventing the presence of products and substances not allowed by the organic production method. That principle should hence be incorporated as a provision into Annex III to Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91. The immediate implementation of that provision however is assumed to have an important economic impact on the compound feedingstuffs industry in several Member States and consequently on the organic farming sector. For that reason, and in order to allow the organic sector to adapt to the new requirements of separated production lines, a possibility of derogation to this provision should be foreseen for a period of five years. Moreover, this issue has to be re-examined thoroughly in the near future on the basis of further information and experience gained.
(8) Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91 should therefore be amended.
(9) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee referred to in Article 14 of Regulation (EEC) No 2092/91,