(2004/C 70 E/218)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3035/03

by Marit Paulsen (ELDR) to the Commission

(17 October 2003)

Subject:   Traceability requirement under Article 18(2) of Regulation (EC) 178/2002

Article 18(2) of the EU's Regulation (EC) 178/2002 (1) laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety (the General Food Regulation) states that food and feed business operators shall be able to identify ‘any person’ [in the Swedish text ‘alla personer’, literally ‘all persons’] from whom they have been supplied with a food, a feed, a food-producing animal, or any substance intended to be, or expected to be, incorporated into a food or feed.

However, the English phrase ‘any person’ used here would most closely be translated in Swedish with ‘varje person’ (‘each person’).

With every respect for the translation preferences of the EC Court of Justice, how, in the Commission's view, should this point be interpreted? Is any distinction intended, or is this merely a linguistic discrepancy?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(2 December 2003)

The traceability requirement as set up by Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety (the General Food Law Regulation) is limited to the identification of the immediate supplier of a particular product and its immediate subsequent recipient.

The said provision does not require food and feed business operators to be able to follow the path of a particular product or ingredient through identification of all preceding suppliers and all succeeding customers throughout the whole supply chain.

The legislation relies on a one up, one down approach between businesses to ensure full chain traceability.

Any linguistic version, which would risk altering the meaning and scope of the general traceability requirement as outlined above, should be considered as a purely linguistic discrepancy and not as an intended distinction in terms of substance.

However, in the case of the Swedish text, ‘alla personer’ or ‘varje person’ are two equivalent expressions that both conform to the ‘one up, one down’ approach. The use of either of them does not alter the meaning of the phrase. Similar stylistic differences exist in the Danish and Dutch versions.

(1)  OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1.