Select Committee on European Scrutiny Ninth Report


MARKETING OF COMPOUND ANIMAL FEED


(20912)
5247/00
COM(99) 744

Draft Directive amending Directive 79/373/EEC on the marketing of compound feedingstuffs.
Legal base: Article 152 EC; co-decision; qualified majority voting 
Document originated: 7 January 2000
Forwarded to the Council: 10 January 2000
Deposited in Parliament: 2 February 2000
Department: Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 
Basis of consideration: EM of 10 February 2000
Previous Committee Report: None
To be discussed in Council: Following the Opinion of the European Parliament 
Committee's assessment: Legally and politically important
Committee's decision: Not cleared; further information requested

Background

  3.1  Council Directive 79/373[20] lays down certain conditions on the labelling of compound feedingstuffs to ensure that stock farmers have objective and accurate information on the composition of the material they feed to their stock. One of its provisions requires manufacturers of such feedingstuffs to list the ingredients of compound feed, in descending order of weight, either by specific ingredient or by category, though, since 1997 any meat material still permitted has to be declared in full.

The current proposal

  3.2  This proposal would remove the category option for farm animal feed (but not for petfood), and it would also require manufacturers of farm animal feed to declare the amount of each ingredient in terms of percentage by weight (an "open declaration"). However, in response to manufacturers' concerns about the need for frequent label changes if flexibility in the use of feed material is to be maintained, the Commission has proposed a separate label or document specifically for the "open declaration" of ingredients. The Commission justifies these changes largely on the grounds of increasing traceability, particularly in the light of BSE and the dioxin contamination last year of oils and fats in Belgium.

The Government's view

  

  3.3  In her Explanatory Memorandum of 10 February 2000, the Minister of State (Lords) at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Hayman) says that the main element in the proposal — the deletion of the category option for declaration of ingredients — is in keeping with domestic policy, would not require significant changes for compounders here, and is therefore supported by the UK. She goes on to say that the only real problem would be the requirement for the "open declaration", which is not a requirement for human food, and which would place additional burdens on manufacturers and enforcement authorities, without providing any meaningful information. Nor does she consider that the need to provide these details would have prevented the Belgian incident, which she says was probably caused by criminal contamination, and thus better tackled by other traceability measures. She adds that the UK would, however, support the optional declaration of ingredients by percentage, which is not currently allowed under Directive 79/373.

  3.4  The Minister also makes the point that, along with other Member States, the UK does not believe Article 152 to be the correct legal base as, contrary to the Commission's assertions, the measure has consumer information, not public health, as its direct objective. She says that the UK will be pursuing this issue in forthcoming discussions.

Conclusion

  3.5  Whilst we have noted the Minister's comments about the policy implications of this proposal, we have some concern that the UK should appear to be weakening it by suggesting that the declaration of ingredients by percentage should be optional. Consequently, before clearing the document, we would like her to spell out more fully why she favours this approach. We were also interested in the Minister's comments on the proposed legal base, and we support the Government's approach to this. We would, however, like to be kept informed should there be any change in the UK position on this point.


20   OJ L 86, 6.4.79, p.30. Back


 
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