FSA Enforcement Letter (ENF/E/07/039) , 6 July 2007

CONTAMINANTS - Amendment to Commission Decision 2006/504/EC on special conditions governing certain foodstuffs imported from certain third countries due to contamination risks of these products by aflatoxins

This letter is addressed to Environmental Health Officers and Trading Standards Officers in England only.

I would like to bring to your attention certain amendments which have been made to Commission Decision, 2006/504/EC. These are set out in Commission Decision 2007/459/EC [Official Journal of the European Union, L174, 04.7.2007, p. 08-17], which came into force on 1st July 2007. Details of the amendments are summarised as follows:

• Exclusion of products containing less than 10% of the foodstuffs covered by the Decision;
• Exclusion of consignments of foodstuffs covered by the Decision with a gross weight of 5kg and under;
• Update of points of entry into the Community in light of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU.

In addition, the amending Decision also clarifies that the requirement for consignments to be accompanied by a health certificate relates to the consignments which left the country of origin from 1 October 2006 onwards.

Lastly, the health certificate set out in annex I of Commission Decision 2006/504/EC has now been separated out into two certificates; one to be completed by the competent authorities of the country of origin of the foodstuffs covered by the Decision (annex I) and the second to be completed by the competent authority of the Member State (annex III). The health certificate in annex III also provides for the situation where the competent authority for the point of introduction into the Community is different from the competent authority for the designated point of import, or where a physical check is not mandatory

All the other special conditions for import remain the same.

Commission Decision 2007/459/EC has been enacted into English law by a Declaration, a copy of which can be found at: http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/reg33declarationeng040707.pdf .

This can be found on the legislation for importing food page on the Agency's website at: http://www.food.gov.uk/foodindustry/imports/legislation/legislation.

The Declaration has been made under Regulation 33 of The Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/15). Equivalent Declarations will be made in Wales , Scotland and Northern Ireland .

For ease of reference, please find attached a link to the new Decision: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2007/l_174/l_17420070704en00080017.pdf