On
The European Parliament delivered its opinion at first reading on
The Council adopted a Common Position at its meeting on
The purpose of the proposal is to strengthen the rules governing animal feed by recasting Directive 1999/29/EC, strengthening the ban on raw materials containing undesirable substances in excess of certain maximum levels.
In the first place, the proposal prohibits the practice of diluting raw materials containing levels of undesirable substances in excess of the permitted maximum limits, which is still a major derogation within those limits. It also puts an end to the present tolerance which allows the maximum limits to be exceeded in special local circumstances in which animal feed is produced and used on the same farm.
In addition, the proposal requires the Member States to open enquiries to determine the source of contamination not only where the maximum limits have been exceeded but also where the undesirable substance content reaches significant levels. Provision is also made for the determination of
The Council's Common Position is very much in line with the Commission proposal endorsed by Parliament and takes account, in particular, of the essence of the amendments adopted at first reading by Parliament.
The Council nevertheless considered it necessary to incorporate a number of specific amendments in order to specify the scope of certain provisions and improve the legal clarity of the Directive.
It also incorporated the following horizontal amendments:
as it considered that the generic term
in Annex I there is no longer a distinction between
in order to prevent any risk of confusion or ambiguity regarding the different types of products, throughout the text the formulation
The Council considered it necessary to specify that the rules applicable to animal feed must also cover the quality and safety of water consumed by animals. An additional recital states to that end that the issue of water to be considered as a feedingstuff needs to be examined in the framework of the review of Directive 96/25/EC.
In order to ensure that all the relevant legislation would continue to be applicable, the provision intended to ensure the consistency of the Directive with other Community provisions was extensively amended by the incorporation of an exhaustive list of the legislative acts concerned.
In order to improve the legal clarity of the text, four new definitions were added to Article 2:
The provision intended to guarantee that animal feed is sound, genuine and of merchantable quality is worded in a more precise fashion, and covers both imports and the use of products within the Community.
The new formulation also provides that, when correctly used, animal feed must not represent any danger to human health, animal health or to the environment and must not negatively affect livestock production.
Under Article 4 of the Common Position, the Member States are required to carry out investigations, in cooperation with operators, when the maximum levels of undesirable substances are exceeded and when increased levels of such substances are detected.
An additional provision was included in order to ensure that all relevant information is transmitted to the Commission and the other Member States.
In addition, the Council introduced a new Annex II listing the action thresholds that will trigger investigations if exceeded or even require the Member State concerned to take measures. The action thresholds will be fixed by means of a committee procedure.
The wording of the provision prohibiting the dilution of products containing levels of an undesirable substance that exceed the maximum level was reworded to make it more explicit.
Article 8 was reorganised so as to clarify the responsibilities which the Commission must discharge in following the committee procedure, and to stipulate that the acceptability criteria to be defined by the Commission will apply to decontamination processes rather than to the products undergoing those processes.
A further paragraph was added, stating that measures must be taken to ensure the correct application of detoxification processes and the conformity of the detoxified products.
Article 10, which made detailed provision for monitoring, was deleted in the light of the amendments made by the new directive being adopted on the organisation of official inspections in the field of animal nutrition. The text was replaced by a provision laying down the procedure to be followed when measures that may affect health or the environment are taken.
An additional clause was added in order to make more explicit the provision concerning the return of contaminated products to third countries. It was stipulated that products could be returned only after the competent authority of the exporting country had been informed.
The dates laid down for the implementation of the directive (and for the repeal of Directive 1999/29/EC) were amended in order to allow the Member States sufficient time to take transposition measures and to apply them.
The Council supported the Commission's position, incorporating in its Common Position amendments 3, 6 and 10, and not incorporating amendments 18, 27, 33, 35, 36 or 37. In addition the Council adopted, in part or in principle, amendments 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28 and 32.
As regards the other amendments that it did not adopt, the Council took as its basis the following considerations:
the deletion of recital 15 from the Commission proposal and of the original Article 10 meant that amendments 15, 29, 30, and 31 were to no purpose,
it was not considered necessary to insert a definition of
it was considered appropriate to lay down a period of 18 months for the Member States' transposition of the directive because of the magnitude of the measures provided for (amendment 34).