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

Forward
1. This note reports developments on the proposed legislation to consolidate and simplify EU food hygiene legislation which have occurred since our second summary report of 21 August 2001. It:

• Reports what happened in Council Working Group discussions under Belgian Presidency (August to December);
• Gives the latest versions of the text of the proposals, taking account of discussions to date;
• Indicates what we know of the Spanish Presidency's plans for progressing discussions;
• Reports on the withdrawal by the Commission of the third of the package of proposals on the rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin; and
• Provides information on the timing of the debate of the proposals in he Environment Committee of the European Parliament

Negotiations: Belgium Presidency
2. Under Belgian Presidency, the Council Working Group looked again at the sector specific aspects of the second proposal on the specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin. A text, (5035/02), prepared by the Council Secretariat comprises a recast of the original proposal taking into account the discussion in Council Working Group to date. It indicates the changes suggested to the original proposal together with the comments made by the delegations and is at [ ]. The document also sets out possible consequential amendments to the first proposal on the hygiene of foodstuffs arising during the discussions on the sector specific rules. This is a working document and not an agreed record.

3. The Council Working Group also considered a number of key cross-cutting issues contained in the first proposal, but without any measures of consensus or conclusion. The Council Secretariat have produced a document (14510/01) outlining the matters under discussion. This is at [ ]. This is also a working document and not an agreed record.

4. 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 communication to the European Parliament and to Council number 5475/01. Since the proposals were first issued, there have been a number of developments. The withdrawn proposal did not take account of the increasing role of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles in food safety management by meat plant operators. In addition, a new approach is envisaged for meat inspection. These developments require a fundamental revision of the original proposal. The revised proposal is expected to reflect better the importance of a risk-based and integrated, farm-to-fork approach to food safety.

Negotiations: Spanish Presidency
5. Under Spanish Presidency, the Council Working Group is continuing its discussion of the proposal on specific rules applicable to products of animal origin and consideration of the first proposal on rules governing general food hygiene. The next Council Working Group meeting on the first proposal is scheduled for 27 February and that on the second proposal is scheduled for 4 March. Spain hopes to complete consideration of these two proposals and obtain political agreement to the European Parliament’s first reading report during its Presidency.

European Parliament
6. The rapporteur to the Environment Committee of the European Parliament (EP) has now presented draft reports to the Committee on the first two of the proposals. Copies of the reports are available at:
www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/committees/envi/20020122/422415en.pdf and
www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/committees/envi/20020122/422416en.pdf
These reports are to be discussed at the Environment Committee's meeting on 21 March with a view to agreement in the plenary session of the EP on 24-25 April 2002. MEPs have until 20 February to table amendments to the reports before they are adopted by Environment Committee.

Comments and feedback
7. We should be pleased to have any comments or feedback on this update or on the latest versions of the proposals. Please feel free to contact:

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

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