Fifth summary of progress on the consolidation and simplification of food hygiene legislation

Friday 10 January 2003

This note reports developments on the proposed legislation to consolidate and simplify EU food hygiene legislation which have occurred since our fourth summary report of 17 July 2002.

It:

• Reports what happened in Council Working Group discussions under Danish Presidency (June to December);
• Gives the latest versions of the text of the proposals, taking account of discussions to date;
• Indicates what we know of the Greek Presidency’s plans for progressing discussions;
• Reports on the most recent plans to debate the third proposal in the European Parliament; and
• Provides the initial version of the Regulatory Impact Assessment produced on the effects of the third proposal. (The latest version of the Regulatory Impact Assessment on the first two proposals was included with the fourth summary.)

Negotiations: Danish Presidency

2.Under Danish Presidency, the Council Working Group concentrated heavily on the second proposal on the specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin.

On 16 December 2002, the Agriculture Council unanimously reached political agreement on the proposal on the basis of Document 11100/04/02 Rev 4.

The text will need to be considered by Jurist/Linguists group to ensure internal legal and linguistic consistency.

As with the first proposal, it was agreed to include a declaration in the minutes statement to the effect, that Council will not formally adopt a common position until discussions on other parts of the package of proposals have sufficiently advanced to ensure consistency between the elements of the package and their implementation dates.

The UK was content to go along with political agreement on this basis.

See Document 11100/4/02 REV 4 below.

3.As explained in the third update, The European Commission decided to withdraw the third of the suite of proposals, on the rules for the organization of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption, by means of a report to Council number 5475/01.

A revised proposal (document 10987/02) was issued formally in July.

4. There was limited discussion of certain aspects of the third proposal. This was based on document 10987/02. This was subsequently replaced by document 14141/02, reflecting discussion in Council Working Group (see below).

This is a working document and not an agreed record.

5. Agriculture Council on 27 June reached political agreement to a Common Position in respect of the first proposal and this was reported in the fourth summary report.

Jurist/Linguists group considered this proposal in November.

A revised text of the first proposal following this consideration was produced by the Council Secretariat as document 10543/02.

See Document 10543/02 below.

Negotiations: Greek Presidency

6. Although a formal work plan has not been received, it is expected that the Greek Presidency will continue discussion of the third proposal in Council Working Group.

It may also turn attention to begin discussion of the fifth proposal. That proposal repeals the existing legal instruments to be replaced by the requirements of the new proposals.

European Parliament

7. The European Parliament plans to move to first reading of the re-issued third proposal in early 2003, although timing is not definite at this stage.

Mr Schnellhardt has been appointed as rapporteur.

Environment Committee is due to adopt its opinion on the 19th of March.

It is scheduled to be considered at a plenary session of the Parliament on 7 April.

Regulatory Impact Assessment

8.The original consultation pack on the proposals was accompanied by an Initial Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) on the likely effects for business and other interests of the implementation of the package of proposals.

The latest version of that RIA was included with the fourth summary.

However, given the withdrawal and thorough revision of the third proposal by the Commission, a separate draft initial RIA specifically covering that proposal has been produced as below.

Both RIAs will continue to be further refined in the light of progress in the negotiations and further information.

See Draft Regulatory Impact Assessment on the third proposal below.

Comments and feedback

9. We should be pleased to have any comments or feedback on this update or on the latest versions of the proposals.

We would particularly welcome comments on the latest version of the RIA.

Please feel free to contact:

Catherine Bowles
catherine.bowles@foodstandards.gov.uk
020 7276 8952

Gary Taylor
gary.taylor@foodstandards.gov.uk
020 7276 8939