http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/eudr/2002/2

Directive 2002/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council

of 28 January 2002

amending Council Directive 79/373/EEC on the circulation of compound feedingstuffs and repealing Commission Directive 91/357/EEC

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 Commission1,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee2,

Having consulted the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty3, and in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 20 November 2001,

Whereas:

(1)

Council Directive 79/373/EEC4 lays down rules for the circulation of compound feedingstuffs within the Community.

(2)

As regards labelling, the purpose of Directive 79/373/EEC is to ensure that stock farmers are informed objectively and as accurately as possible as to the composition and use of feedingstuffs.

(3)

Hitherto, Directive 79/373/EEC provided for a flexible declaration confined to the indication of the feed materials without stating their quantity in feedingstuffs for production animals, while retaining the possibility of declaring categories of feed materials instead of declaring the feed materials themselves.

(4)

Nonetheless, the bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis and the recent dioxin crisis have demonstrated the inadequacy of the current provisions and the need for more detailed qualitative and quantitative information on the composition of compound feedingstuffs for production animals.

(5)

Detailed quantitative information may help to ensure that potentially contaminated feed materials can be traced to specific batches, which will be beneficial to public health and avoid the destruction of products which do not present a significant risk to public health.

(6)

Accordingly, it is appropriate, at this stage, to impose a compulsory declaration for all the feed materials as well as their amount in compound feedingstuffs for production animals.

(7)

For practical reasons, it is appropriate that declarations of the feed materials included in compound feedingstuffs for production animals be provided on an ad hoc label or accompanying document.

(8)

The declaration of the feed materials in feedingstuffs constitutes, in certain cases, an important item of information for stock farmers. It is therefore appropriate that the person responsible for labelling supply, at the customers' request, a detailed list of all the feed materials used and their exact percentages by weight.

(9)

It is also important to see to it that the accuracy of the declarations made can be officially verified at all stages of the circulation of the feedingstuffs. It is therefore appropriate that, in accordance with Council Directive 95/53/EC of 25 October 1995 fixing the principles governing the organisation of official inspections in the field of animal nutrition5, the competent authorities monitor the accuracy of the information given by the labelling of compound feedingstuffs and that, in order to ensure the effectiveness of such monitoring, the manufacturers of compound feedingstuffs be obliged to make available to the competent authorities any document concerning the composition of feedingstuffs intended to be put into circulation.

(10)

On the basis of a feasibility study, the Commission will submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council by 31 December 2002, accompanied by an appropriate proposal for the establishment of a positive list, taking account of the conclusions of the report.

(11)

Special provisions are also needed for the labelling of feedingstuffs for pets to allow for the special character of this kind of feedingstuffs.

(12)

Since it will no longer be possible in the future to declare categories of feed materials instead of declaring the feed materials themselves in the case of compound feedingstuffs for production animals, Commission Directive 91/357/EEC of 13 June 1991 laying down the categories of feed materials which may be used for the purposes of labelling compound feedingstuffs for animals other than pet animals6 should be repealed,

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