FSA Consultation Letter, 31 July 2006
The Food Standards Agency is seeking comments on a draft European Commission (EC) regulation that will consolidate and replace Commission Regulation 466/2001 as amended.
The latest draft document was discussed at a Commission working group meeting on 19 July 2006 with a view to it being voted on at the Standing Committee on 5 September 2006 . The new regulation is expected to be published in the Commission's Official Journal in the autumn and it is expected to apply from 1 March 2007. Consequently, this will be the last opportunity for the UK to submit comments.
The Commission, in co-operation with Member States, has used this consolidation exercise to clarify the legal provisions and interpretation of the text.
In some instances this has widened the scope of the original legislation. In addition, although initially it was not intended to make any changes or revisions to the existing limits, the maximum limit for lead in fish has been revised and certain foodstuffs have now been excluded from parts of the legislation.
The key changes are summarised at a link below. But some of these may not be included in the latest version of the regulations as they were discussed recently.
A copy of the most recent version, which includes tracked changes submitted to the Commission by the UK , many of which we believe have been taken on board, is also available at a link below. Please note that this an unofficial version of the draft regulation and has no legal status.
Comments and data should be submitted by 25 August 2006.
The following documents are available on this site: