THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 183/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 January 2005 laying down requirements for feed hygiene, and in particular Article 10(3) thereof,
Having regard to Directive 2002/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 May 2002 on undesirable substances in animal feed, and in particular the second indent of Article 8(2) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Directive 2002/32/EC provides that the use of products intended for animal feed which contain levels of undesirable substances exceeding the maximum levels laid down in Annex I of that Directive is prohibited.
(2)
Directive 2002/32/EC provides also that Member States are to ensure that measures are taken to guarantee the correct application of any acceptable detoxification process on products intended for animal feed and the conformity of those detoxified products with the provisions of Annex I of that Directive. In order to ensure a uniform assessment across the European Union of the acceptability of detoxification processes, it is appropriate that acceptability criteria for detoxification processes are established at Union level as a complement to the criteria provided for products intended for animal feed which have undergone such processes.
(3)
The acceptability criteria for detoxification processes should ensure that the detoxified feed does not endanger animal and public health and the environment and that the characteristics of the feed are not adversely altered by the detoxification process. The compliance of a detoxification process with those criteria shall be scientifically assessed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on a request from the Commission.
(4)
Detoxification of contaminated materials, according to the definition in Article 3(2)(p) of Regulation (EC) No 767/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, can be performed by a physical, chemical or (micro) biological detoxification process.
(5)
It is necessary to exclude from the scope of this Regulation the simple detoxification processes through which the contamination by an undesirable substance is reduced or eliminated solely by the usual refining process, cleaning, sorting or mechanical removal of contaminants or certain parts of the contaminated feed as such processes are part of the usual production process.
(6)
A functional group of additives which suppress or reduce the absorption of mycotoxins, promote their excretion or modify their mode of action and thereby mitigate possible adverse effects of mycotoxins on animal and public health has been added in the category of technological additives in the Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council. As these additives do not change the level of the undesirable substance in the feed, the feed is not detoxified by the use of these additives and consequently, the use of these additives does not fall in the scope of this Regulation. Furthermore, as such products are not intended to be used for non-compliant feed, they do not fall in the scope of this Regulation.
(7)
In accordance with Article 10(3) of Regulation (EC) No 183/2005, the detoxification process should be performed in an establishment approved for that purpose. To ensure a correct and effective application of the detoxification process, the detoxification process should be accepted by the competent authority to be performed in the relevant establishment.
(8)
It may occur that a very large quantity of feed is contaminated with a contaminant for which a decontamination process exists but which has not yet been assessed by EFSA. In order to avoid that such a large quantity of feed needs to be unnecessarily destroyed, it may be appropriate in such exceptional situations to request EFSA to provide an assessment of the detoxification process on short notice, e.g. 10 working days. In case of a favourable outcome of such an assessment, the competent authority may allow the detoxification of the identified contaminated feed within a defined period of time. A full risk assessment with favourable outcome of the detoxification process is needed to apply the detoxification process without a time limit.
(9)
Currently detoxification of feed is applied. As after the date when this Regulation starts to apply only detoxification processes can be used which have undergone a scientific assessment by EFSA with favourable outcome and have been accepted by the competent authority, it is appropriate to provide for sufficient time before this Regulation starts to apply.
(10)
The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: