Eighth summary of progress on the consolidation and simplification of EU food hygiene legislation
Thursday 27 May 2004
This update reports on the adoption of the EU food hygiene legislation and the publication of the texts in the Official Journal (OJ) of the European Union on 30 April 2004.
It also:
- provides copies of the OJ texts;
- reviews aspects of negotiations since the last summary on 10 December 2003;
- links to the consultation about the national measures provided for in the legislation; and
- provides a copy of the associated Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA).
On 29 April 2004 new EU food hygiene legislation was adopted that will apply on 1 January 2006.
The texts of the first, second, third and fifth parts of the package of legislation, were published in the OJ on 30 April 2004.
Following the Second Reading by the European Parliament, the proposals were adopted by qualified majority as a result of a Council written procedure.
The main change from the Common Position adopted at First Reading by the Council of Ministers on 27 October 2003 (as reported on in the seventh update) is that the legislation limits the use of slaughterhouse staff in the inspection process to checks on poultry and rabbits (i.e. retaining the status quo in terms of species and removing the possibility of the extension to pigs and calves).
A general communication to the food industry on the adoption and publication of the legislation will be published in the trade journals over the coming months.
National legislation
The three main EC Regulations that make up the package (H1, H2 and H3) will be directly applicable and therefore constitute the law in each Member State of the EU.
This means that national legislation is not required or indeed allowed to give effect to the EU Regulations, beyond providing for their enforcement in the UK. However, there are a number of areas in the Regulations that either require or allow Member States to adopt certain provisions as appropriate in their national law.
A consultation on the national legislation closes on 9 June 2004.
The Agency has prepared a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) on the policy consultation for the national legislation. It can be accessed below.
Comments and feedback
We should be pleased to have any comments or feedback on this update. Please feel free to contact:
Catherine Bowles
catherine.bowles@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
Tel: 020 7276 8952
Gary Taylor
gary.taylor@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
Tel: 020 7276 8939
Related links
See also
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