Commission Press Release (IP/06/648), 17 May 2006
Markos Kyprianou, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, today welcomed the European Parliament's vote to amend the Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) Regulation, paving the way for First Reading Agreement on this dossier. The amendments to the Regulation will provide the Commission with a legal framework to propose changes to certain Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) measures, as outlined in the TSE Roadmap published last July. The text backed by Parliament today will also bring the EU system of categorising countries according to BSE risk into line with the new, simplified, international system drawn up by the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE). The amended TSE Regulation is now expected to be endorsed by Council and enter into effect before the summer break. The Commission plans to put forward the first proposals to change certain BSE-related rules before the end of 2006.
“I congratulate the Parliament on its diligent work on this proposal and warmly welcome today's positive vote which will allow for First Reading agreement.” said Commissioner Kyprianou. “The BSE situation in the EU has improved considerably, and it is time to adapt the rules to reflect this. Rest assured that consumer protection remains the Commission's first and foremost objective when it comes to legislating on BSE and any future proposals to adapt the rules will be firmly based on scientific advice.”
More flexibility for change
The amendments to the TSE Regulation backed by the Parliament today will provide the Commission with the legal base to move forward with proposals to change TSE rules in specific areas. These proposed changes would reflect the positive downward trend in BSE incidences in the EU and new developments in science and technology, while still ensuring food safety and consumer protection are given the highest priority. For example, the Commission may propose the introduction of a tolerance level to allow a small presence of fishmeal in ruminant feed. Currently, fishmeal is banned in the feed of all ruminants, although it can be used in the feed of non-ruminants subject to strict conditions. A slight relaxation in the fishmeal ban for ruminant feed would make the rules more risk-based and practicable, by allowing for a certain amount of cross-contamination between ruminant and non-ruminant feed. Another change to the BSE rules which would be facilitated by the amended Regulation is a reduction in the number of mandatory tests for BSE, coupled with better targeting of surveillance under certain well-defined conditions.
Some rules to be tightened
Certain provisions in the amended Regulation will be brought in line with the stricter provisions as laid down under the current transitional measures. For example, for mechanically separated meat (MSM), no ruminant bones in countries with a controlled or undetermined BSE risk will be allowed to be used for the production of MSM, rather than just a ban on the vertebral column. Likewise, a short list of specified risk material (SRM) will be moved from the Annex of the Regulation to the articles in the main body of the legislation. The list is comprised of the brains, tonsils and spinal column of the animal. This means that in order to make any changes to the rules on these SRMs, the co-decision procedure involving the European Parliament will be required, rather than the faster Comitology involving agreement with Member State experts in the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health. All other SRM remains listed in the Annex of the Regulation, however.
New BSE-risk categorisation
In May 2005, international agreement was reached on a new, simplified categorisation system for the BSE risk of countries, which could be then used in trade. This OIE system is based on 3 categories (1- negligible risk, 2- controlled risk, 3-undetermined risk), rather than the previous 5 geographical BSE risk (GBR) categories. The proposed amendments to the TSE Regulation incorporate this new categorisation system into EU legislation, so that it can be used by the EU for trading purposes in the future. The EU will wait until May 2007 for the OIE to categorise countries under the new system, and if it has not done so by that date, the EU will do it itself, starting with the major trading partners, using the new adopted categorisation system.
For more information, see: http://ec.europa.eu/comm/food/food/biosafety/bse/index_en.htm