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Report on meeting of EU Standing Committee on Food Chain and Animal health (SCoFCAH): 17/18 July 2006

Thursday 24 August 2006

Opinions were sought on the proposals to amend the EU food hygiene legislation and the implementing measures, following their introduction at the 19/20 June SCoFCAH meeting.

There was little discussion of the proposed measures due to a heavy agenda, although the package of measures was agreed.

The measures will be subject to consultation with the European Parliament, probably in October 2006. Publication in the EU Official Journal is likely to be in November 2006. The measures enter into force on the seventh day following publication – they will also apply from that date.

The regulations listed below will need to be referred to in the national legislation that applies the EU hygiene regulations in each country of the UK in order for them to have full effect.

More detail regarding each proposed measure can be found below, along with copies of the documents concerned. Please note that the documents contain tracked changes.

SANCO/2372/2006
Draft Commission Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004

Agreed by Qualified Majority. Discussion as to whether small ruminants should be included on the list of animals to have tonsils removed. The EU Commission agreed to consider this.

SANCO/2375/2006
Draft Commission Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004

Agreed by Qualified Majority. No discussion.

SANCO/2376/2006 Rev 2
Draft Commission Regulation amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 2074/2005 of 5 December 2005

Agreed by Qualified Majority. Discussion centred on Honey, colostrum and paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) testing. Regarding colostrum, Member States were content but the Commission agreed with the UK the need for a Working Group to develop and discuss certain aspects for colostrum to replace the current national measures as provided for in the proposal; the Working Group would also discuss other dairy issues such as the reference method for alkaline phosphatase activity. The UK had proposed working towards developing a set of criteria for the reference method to meet, as opposed to specifying one particular method; the Commission agreed with this approach.

On PSP testing, there was disagreement between some Member States as to whether the Lawrence method detected the full range of toxins. The possibility was raised of an update from the National Reference Laboratory in the autumn so that planning could be considered and an indication given as to when the method may be able to cover all the PSP toxins satisfactorily.

SANCO/2378/2006
Draft Commission Regulation amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 2075/2005 of 5 December 2005

Agreed by Qualified Majority. Commission agreed to amend Recital 2 as it was not the responsibility of the Competent Authority to ensure full traceability. This was for the operator.

SANCO/2379/2006 Rev 1
Draft Commission Regulation amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 2076/2005 of 5 December 2005

Agreed by Qualified Majority. In answer to concerns, the Commission said its intention was that no further countries should be added to List II for imports of fishery products and live bivalve molluscs, but that this is not guaranteed.

Please note only European Community legislation printed in the paper edition of the Official Journal of the European Union is deemed authentic.

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Related links

SANCO 2372/2006

Download pdf  (pdf 110KB) SANCO 2375/2006

Download pdf  (pdf 22KB) SANCO 2376/2006

Download pdf  (pdf 143KB) SANCO 2378/2006

Download pdf  (pdf 19KB) SANCO 2379/2006

Download pdf  (pdf 31KB) (External) Get Adobe Acrobat reader You may need the free Acrobat Reader to view a pdf

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