http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/eudn/2007/623

Decision No 623/2007/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 23 May 2007

amending 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 Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee1,

Having consulted the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty2,

Whereas:

(1)

Article 1(1)(b) of Directive 2002/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council3, amended Council Directive 79/373/EEC of 2 April 1979 on the circulation of compound feedingstuffs4. That provision added a point to 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)

The Court of Justice of the European Communities, in its judgment of 6 December 2005 in Joined Cases C-453/03, C-11/04, C-12/04 and C-194/045, declared Article 1(1)(b) of Directive 2002/2/EC invalid, in the light of the principle of proportionality.

(3)

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.

(4)

The objective of ensuring feed safety is achieved, inter alia, through implementation of the provisions of Regulations (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council6 and (EC) No 183/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council7.

(5)

A number of court rulings in the Member States have led to Directive 2002/2/EC being implemented differently and unevenly and various cases relating to it are currently pending before the respective national courts.

(6)

The European Parliament and the Council are not at present making more far-reaching amendments to the basic legal act, since the Commission has promised, as part of a simplification programme, to draw up by mid-2007 proposals to overhaul feed legislation. They anticipate that the issue of the so-called ‘open declaration’ of ingredients will be fully reviewed in this context, and expect new proposals from the Commission taking account of both the interest of farmers in being provided with precise, detailed information on the feed materials contained in feedingstuffs and the interest of the industry in ensuring that business secrets are adequately protected.

(7)

The second subparagraph of Article 12 of Directive 79/373/EEC, inserted by Article 1(5) of Directive 2002/2/EC, provides for an obligation on manufacturers of compound feedingstuffs to make available to the authorities responsible for carrying out official inspections, on request, any document concerning the composition of feedingstuffs intended to be put into circulation which enables the accuracy of the information given by the labelling to be verified.

(8)

Directive 2002/2/EC should therefore be amended,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION: