Publication of a request under Article 9 of Regulation (EEC) No 2081/92 to amend one or more parts of the specification of a name registered under Article 17 or Article 6 of that Regulation

(2003/C 99/02)

Publication confers the right to object within the meaning of Article 7 of the Regulation. Any objections to this request must be forwarded via the competent authority of a Member State within six months of the publication date.

The amendment is not a minor one and it must therefore be published under Article 6(2) of the Regulation.

COUNCIL REGULATION (EEC) No 2081/92

APPLICATION TO AMEND A SPECIFICATION: ARTICLE 9

1. Registered name: Scotch Beef

2. Responsible department in the Member State: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Agrifood Exports and Regional Food Promotion Division Regional and Local Foods Branch

Room 407

Nobel House, 17 Smith Square London, SW1P 3JR United Kingdom Tel. (44-207) 238 66 87 Fax (44-207) 238 56 71

3. Amendments requested: - Specification heading(s):

>TABLE>

- Amendment(s):

Description

In order to better reflect current practice, take account of consumer concerns about greater transparency in labelling and improve the quality of Scotch Beef the current description, "The product is derived from cattle finished, for a minimum period of 3 months, slaughtered and dressed in the designated area."

is being amended to the following:

"The product is derived from cattle born, reared for the entirety of their lives, slaughtered and dressed in the designated geographical area. The animals will have been produced and slaughtered in accordance with Quality Assurance schemes accredited to European Standard EN45011 (ISO Guide 65) and having the same standards and assessments and assessment frequencies of those set by the applicant."

Method of production

As a result of the amendment to the description described above it is necessary to amend the details of the method of production. In addition, when the original application was put forward there was almost no Scotch Beef sold in a frozen state. While this practice is still not widespread, the applicant would like to remove the words "Only fresh or chilled product may be sold" to allow Scotch Beef to be sold frozen if a processor so wishes.

Therefore the current description, "Cattle are finished in Scotland for a period of not less than three months. The cattle are slaughtered and dressed in accordance with the set specifications. Only fresh or chilled product may be sold."

is being amended to the following:

"Cattle are born and reared for the entirety of their lives in the designated geographical area. The animals will have been produced and slaughtered in accordance with Quality Assurance schemes accredited to European Standard EN45011 (ISO Guide 65) and having the same standards and assessments and assessment frequencies of those set by the applicant. They are slaughtered and dressed in that area in accordance with the set specifications."