3 Control of certain transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies
| (26216)
15874/04
COM(04) 775
| Draft Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No. 999/2001 laying down the rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
|
| Legal base | Article 152(4)(b); co-decision; QMV
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| Document originated | 6 December 2004
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| Deposited in Parliament | 13 December 2004
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| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 31 January 2005
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| Previous Committee Report | None, but see footnotes
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| To be discussed in Council | June 2005
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested
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Background
3.1 As a result of the BSE crisis, the Community adopted Regulation
999/2001,[6] laying down
rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible
spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). This aimed to target the entire
production chain, and included rules for monitoring TSEs in cattle,
sheep and goats, a prohibition on animal feeding, new arrangements
governing trade (both within the Community and involving third
countries) and the eradication of TSEs, and a system for classifying
countries according to their BSE status. Subsequently, Regulation
1774/2002[7] introduced
new rules for the handling of specified risk materials (SRM) and
animals infected by TSEs. Each of these measures was considered
by our predecessors, and was debated in European Standing Committee
A.[8]
The current document
3.2 In the light of new developments since the adoption of Regulation
999/2001, the Commission has proposed in this document a number
of amendments, as follows:
- Transitional measures were intended to apply until countries
had been categorised by the World Organisation for Animal Health
(OIE) according to their BSE risk, and in 2003 these were extended
by two years, to 30 June 2005. However, the OIE does not intend
to present a proposal to simplify the current categorisation criteria
before its next general session in May 2005, and will not conclude
the final categorisation of countries according to their BSE risk
before 1 July 2005. It is therefore proposed that the application
of the transitional measures in the Regulation should be prolonged
until 1 July 2007.
- In March 2003, the Scientific Steering Committee
(SSC) recommended the introduction of a monitoring programme for
TSEs in deer, and it is proposed to amend the Regulation to allow
for such an extension.
- As a transitional measure, a Commission Decision
in 2003[9] introduced a
harmonised breeding programme to select for resistance to TSE
in sheep.[10] This was
initially applied on a voluntary basis, but with participation
for flocks of "high genetic merit" becoming compulsory
from 1 April 2005. It is now proposed to introduce a permanent
legal basis for this programme.
- The Regulation prohibits the feeding of certain
processed animal proteins to certain animals, with provision to
extend the prohibition or lay down derogations. It is now proposed
to make technical amendments to the Regulation in order to enable
comprehensive amendments to be made to the relevant annex.
- Since the rules for disposal of specified risk
materials (SRM) and animals infected by TSEs are now laid down
in Regulation (EC) No. 1774/2002, it is proposed to replace the
corresponding rules in the TSE Regulation with a reference to
Regulation (EC) No. 1774/2002.
- Although stunning by injection of gas into the
cranial cavity is not authorised within the Community, injection
of gas may also occur after stunning. It has therefore been proposed
that the present provisions on slaughter methods should be revised
with a view to prohibiting gas injection into the cranial cavity
in connection with stunning.
- It is proposed that the definition of mechanically
recovered meat should be aligned with that used in other Community
legislation on food safety.
- In order to avoid animals being moved from holdings
where scrapie is officially suspected, it is proposed to lay down
the same movement restrictions as those applying to cattle following
the detection of a BSE suspect. It is also proposed to extend
the application of the movement restrictions to all cattle, sheep
and goats on a holding where a TSE is suspected in such an animal.
- In order to take into account the possibility
of TSEs emerging in other species, it is proposed to enable the
current provisions on the placing on the market and export of
cattle, sheep and goats, their semen, embryos and ova to be extended
accordingly.
- In June 1998, the SSC suggested that certain
restrictions on the sourcing of raw material for the manufacture
of di-calcium phosphate should be observed, and it is now proposed
to remove that product from the list of those which the Regulation
currently specifies shall not be subject to marketing restrictions.
- Since no restrictions apply for milk for human
consumption, the Commission suggests that the same derogation
should apply for milk not intended for human consumption, with
a consequential amendment being made to the list of products specified
by the Regulation as not being subject to marketing restrictions.
- The Regulation provides a legal basis for inspections
by the Food and Veterinary Office only within the Member States,
and, although a general legal basis for Community inspections
in third countries is given in Commission Decision 98/140/EC,
the Commission says that it is desirable to provide a legal basis
for such checks within the TSE regulation. It has therefore proposed
an appropriate amendment to the Regulation.
The Government's view
3.3 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 31 January 2005,
the Minister for Nature Conservation and Fisheries at the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr Ben Bradshaw) says
that most of these changes would not have any adverse impact on
UK policy. However, there are two aspects on which the Government
is seeking clarification. First, the proposed definition for mechanically
recovered meat will have policy implications because it is significantly
different from the current interpretation, which the UK believes
should be retained. Secondly, the UK considers that the proposal
to restrict the movement of bovine animals on a holding where
scrapie is suspected would be disproportionate to the risk and
not based on scientific evidence.
3.4 The Minister says that, pending clarification
on these two points, there is no requirement for a Regulatory
Impact Assessment (RIA), but he has provided an Assessment produced
for the consultation carried out last year on the proposal to
introduce a permanent legal basis for the breeding programme to
select for resistance to TSEs in sheep. He says that a further
RIA will be produced for the consultation on the precise scheme
detail and necessary implementing legislation planned for later
this year.
3.5 The Minister also points out that a consultation
on long-term plans for a compulsory breeding programme for resistance
to scrapie, as required by Commission Decision 2003/100/EC, was
completed in October 2004. He says that this was well received
by the industry, with all respondents commenting that the aims
and objectives of the breeding programme established under the
existing voluntary National Scrapie Plan (NSP) remained valid,
that the NSP worked well and in partnership with industry, and
that continued "partnership" working was imperative
to its continued success, particularly in the light of the move
to a compulsory breeding programme. The Minister adds that, in
the light of the comments it has received, the Government has
since announced that the compulsory breeding programme, which
will apply to all purebred breeding flocks (and to any other flock
that produces and sells homebred rams for breeding), will take
the form of a compulsory ram genotyping scheme requiring the removal
of those most susceptible to scrapie, along with a voluntary ewe
genotyping scheme. Further consultation with industry on the precise
scheme detail and the necessary implementing national legislation
for the compulsory element of the breeding programme will be undertaken
later this year.
Conclusion
3.6 Although the control of TSEs clearly remains
a subject of some importance, the various amendments proposed
here appear to reflect experience gained in recent years, and,
for the most part, to be uncontroversial. However, we note that
the Government is seeking clarification on two elements in the
proposal —
the re-definition of mechanically recovered meat and the restrictions
to be imposed on holdings where scrapie is suspected —
and we therefore think it prudent to hold the document under scrutiny,
pending further information on these two points.
6 OJ No. L.147, 31.5.01, p.1. Back
7
OJ No. L. 273, 10.10.02, p.1. Back
8
(19751) 5196/99; see HC 34-xiii (1998-99), para 2 (17 March 1999),
HC 23-xxxi (1999-2000), para 1 (29 November 2000) and HC 28-vi
(2000-01), para 1 (14 February 2001). Stg Co Deb, European
Standing Committee A , 14 February 2001. (21759) 12648/00; see
HC 28-iii (2000-01), para 2 (17 January 2001), HC 28-vii (2000-01),
para 3 (28 February 2001) and HC 28-viii (2000-01), para 2 (14
March 2001). Stg Co Deb, European Standing Committee A,
7 March 2001. Back
9
No. 2003/100/EC. OJ No. L.41, 14.2.03, p. 41. Back
10
In practice, this covers scrapie (which is found naturally in
sheep and goats, and which has clinical symptoms similar to those
of BSE) and BSE itself (where there is a theoretical risk that
it might have been transmitted to sheep, but be masked by scrapie). Back
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