On
The European Parliament delivered its opinion at first reading at its part-session from
The Council adopted its Common Position on
The proposal is intended to:
create a European Food Authority, defining its mission, tasks and responsibilities, as well as its structure and operating methods,
define the general principles and requirements of food law,
establish appropriate procedures to guarantee food safety.
The role of the European Food Authority will essentially consist of providing scientific and technical opinions on which food safety policy and legislation can then be based. The new body will ensure that a high level of protection for human health is achieved in the Community. It will carry out its task on the basis of the principles of independence, transparency and scientific excellence.
The proposal is generally intended to apply the key objectives identified in the White Paper on Food Safety, which was presented by the Commission in January 2000.
The Council's Common Position broadly accords with the positions taken by the Commission and the Parliament, inasmuch as it:
confirms the objectives and most of the arrangements proposed by the Commission and supported by the European Parliament,
includes a large number of the amendments passed at first reading by the European Parliament.
In particular, the Council has retained the legal form of a Regulation, despite the real difficulties which this choice posed as regards implementation of the provisions on food law by the Member States. For this reason, it was felt necessary to amend the provisions on the timetable for application of the Regulation, so as to reduce these difficulties as much as possible and to ensure effective and non-discriminatory introduction of the provisions on food law.
The Council also felt that it was appropriate to introduce a number of amendments, some of them at the suggestion of the Parliament, either to define the scope of some provisions, or to make the wording of the Regulation more explicit and guarantee legal certainty, or to increase its consistency with other Community instruments and the transparency of some of the arrangements for its operation.
Finally it should be noted that in organising its work on this subject, the Council has always taken care to respect the instructions given by the Nice European Council and confirmed in Stockholm, namely to enable the future European Food Authority to be operational at the beginning of 2002.
The Council amended the provisions on the timetable for the Regulation's application for reasons of legal certainty, by defining more closely the relationship between this new instrument and existing food legislation, and providing a sufficient period of time for the adaptation of any provision which may prove incompatible in existing legislation at both national and Community level. Thus the Council was able to delete Article 66 of the original proposal, which would have allowed national and Community legislation not complying with the principles and procedures set out in the Regulation to be retained indefinitely.
The Common Position specifies that Articles 11, 12, and 14 to 20 Imports and exports, food and feed safety requirements, presentation, responsibilities, traceability, responsibilities of operators in the food and feed sectors.
It also states that principles and procedures already in force should be adapted by General objectives of food law, risk analysis, precautionary principle, protection of consumers' interests, public consultation and information.
Also, so there is no dislocation between the work currently being carried out by the Commission's scientific committees and the work of the future Authority's scientific bodies, while enabling the latter to start operating as soon as possible, the Common Position provides that Articles 29, 56, 57 and 60 and Article 61(1) shall apply as from the date of appointment of the members of the Scientific Committee and of the Scientific Panels.
Firstly, the Council amended the definition of
Thus, the Regulation only covers water once it has left the tap, as well as bottled water and water used in the manufacture, preparation or treatment of food; it excludes water contained in municipal distribution systems, which is already regulated by existing Directives.
For the sake of clarity the Council has added residues and contaminants to the list of substances and products which are not covered by the definition of
The Council has also incorporated the definition of
The Council has strengthened safety requirements with the addition of a provision enabling the competent authorities to impose restrictions on a food or feed being placed on the market or to require its withdrawal from the market where there are reasons to suspect that it is unsafe, even if it complies with the legislation.
The Common Position is intended to give the future European Food Authority a wide-ranging mission, explicitly covering animal feedingstuffs, to provide it with an overall view of the food chain, which is essential if it is to identify emerging risks.
At the same time, some tasks which do not have a direct connection with food safety are being entrusted to the Authority for practical reasons, to avoid wasting resources by the duplication of effort. However, this will only be a question of providing scientific advice, and this task should not in any way lead to a dilution of the resources made available to the Authority.
Food safety will be the focus of the Authority's activities. Indeed, it can be envisaged that work which does not have any connection with this principal mission, and which is currently carried out by scientific committees under the aegis of the Commission, will remain on the same scale as at present, and represent a very minor part of the total work carried out by the Authority.
The Common Position confirms the operational separation between the tasks of risk assessment and risk management. However, it seemed appropriate to add an extra provision concerning the Authority's mission, to ensure an interface between its various functions: assessment, management and communication.
The mission entrusted to the Authority by the common position is as follows:
the principal mission of the Authority will consist of the provision of scientific advice and scientific and technical support in all fields which have a direct or indirect impact on food and feed safety. It will contribute to a high level of protection of human health, taking account of animal health and welfare, plant health and the environment. It will also communicate on risks, in cooperation with the Commission and the Member States, and collect and analyse data to allow the characterisation and monitoring of risks:
its other missions will consist of providing scientific advice on
On this point, the Council differed with the Commission and was influenced by Parliament's position; it chose a system for appointing members of the Management Board which should be better at ensuring excellence and independence, and in which the Commission, Parliament and Council are involved in the choice of all the members.
In essence, the new approach aims:
to meet the objectives of independence, transparency and efficiency to be pursued by the Authority,
to secure the highest standards of competence, a broad range of relevant expertise and the broadest possible geographic distribution,
to provide a specific role for the Commission, enabling it to provide some continuity at the Authority.
The Management Board will be composed of 16 members appointed by the Council in consultation with the European Parliament from a list drawn up by the Commission which includes a number of candidates substantially higher than the number of members to be appointed. It will also include a Commission representative. A quarter of the members will have their background in organisations representing consumers and other interests in the food chain. Members' term of office will generally be four years, with half of the Management Board being renewed every two years.
At the suggestion of Parliament, the Council has introduced a more transparent and open procedure than initially proposed for the appointment of the Executive Director. A list of candidates will be proposed by the Commission after an open competition, following publication in the
The Council agrees with Parliament that it will be sufficient for the Executive Director simply to consult the Commission before proposing the Authority's work programmes, which will strengthen his independence.
The Council has made substantial amendments to the provisions on the Advisory Forum, in order to set out in more detail its role within the Authority.
Thus, the Advisory Forum will:
advise the Executive Director, drawing up a proposal for the Authority's work programme and advising on the prioritisation of requests for scientific opinions,
constitute a mechanism for an exchange of information on potential risks and the pooling of knowledge,
ensure close cooperation between the Authority and the competent bodies in the Member States, in order to avoid duplication, encourage cooperation in the case of differences between the Authority and a national body and promote the networking of organisations operating within the fields of the Authority's mission,
ensure close cooperation between the Authority and the competent bodies when an emerging risk is identified.
The Council has added to the provisions relating to the Scientific Committee and Scientific Panels, which will be responsible for providing the scientific opinions of the Authority, so as to set out their operating arrangements in more detail, to allow:
the creation of specific working groups,
observers to be invited to meetings of the Scientific Committee and Scientific Panels,
the organisation of public hearings.
The Council did not want to restrict requests to the Authority by the European Parliament and by the Member States only to cases where consultation was not specifically provided for by Community legislation. Therefore, contrary to the original proposal, Parliament and the Member States will be able to request an opinion from the Authority on any matter within its mission.
However, this right to request an opinion is formulated in such a way as not to conflict with the Commission's right of initiative, and not to create a risk that the Authority will be overburdened with an excessive number of requests.
The Common Position also sets out the circumstances in which the Authority might refuse a request for an opinion or propose changes to such a request.
The Article in the original proposal relating to the decision on the seat of the Authority, which merely referred to a subsequent decision and thus provided no added value, no longer appears in the Common Position. Since such an Article does not constitute a legally necessary condition for the creation of the Authority, the Council has judged it preferable not to include it at all.
The Council accepted Parliament's position, keeping the management of the rapid alert system established by the Regulation under the Commission's responsibility, although some aspects of this fall rather under risk management.
However, the Common Position provides that the Authority will automatically receive information circulating on the rapid alert network, so that it will be able to analyse it and thus fulfil its general mission as effectively as possible.
To ensure the safety of the food chain as a whole, the Council has extended to animal feed the emergency measures applicable to food. The wording used in the Common Position is aligned on Community provisions on official controls in the field of animal feed. The same procedures will thus be applied in both sectors.
The Council has incorporated the following amendments in its Common Position:
3, 6, 7, 14, 22, 25, 30, 31, 64 to 66, 71, 79, 86, 104, 105, 109, 110, 116, 119, 124, 127 to 131, 135 to 142, 152, 154, 164, 166, 176 and 186,
and retained the principle, or incorporated part of, amendments
2, 5, 16, 20, 27, 35, 38, 42, 45, 47, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 67, 73, 76, 80, 82 to 84, 93, 98, 103, 107, 108, 111 to 115, 120, 134, 144, 149, 155, 156, 160, 170, 177, 183, 207 and 220.
The Council followed the Commission and did not incorporate amendments
1, 4, 12, 13, 15, 17 to 19, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 32 to 34, 36, 37, 39 to 41, 43, 44, 46, 48 to 56, 59, 63, 68, 72, 74, 77, 78, 81, 87 to 89, 91, 94, 95, 97, 99, 102, 117, 118, 121 to 123, 125, 133, 143, 145 to 148, 153, 157 to 159, 161 to 163, 169, 172 to 175, 179 to 182, 185, 187, 189, 202, 205, 209, 212 and 213.
Regarding the other amendments which it did not incorporate, the Council's views were as follows: