(1)

Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 lays down a Union list of food additives approved for use in food and their conditions of use.

(2)

That list may be updated in accordance with the common procedure referred to in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1331/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) either on the initiative of the Commission or following an application.

(3)

On 25 March 2013 an application was submitted for authorisation of the use of steviol glycosides (E 960) as a sweetener in certain energy-reduced or with no added sugars beverages falling under the food subcategory 14.1.5.2 ‘Other’ of Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008. The application was subsequently made available to the Member States pursuant to Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1331/2008.

(4)

Steviol glycosides are non-caloric sweet-tasting constituents and may be used to replace caloric sugars in certain beverages, thus reducing the caloric content of those products. Consequently, steviol glycosides provide sweetness to those beverages without delivering additional calories to the final product, offering consumers energy-reduced or with no added sugars products, in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008.

(5)

Pursuant to Article 3(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1331/2008, the Commission is to seek the opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) in order to update the Union list of food additives set out in Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008.

(6)

In 2010, the Authority adopted a scientific opinion (3) on the safety of steviol glycosides for the proposed uses as a food additive (E 960) and established an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of 4 mg/kg body weight/day, expressed as steviol equivalents. In view of the proposed extension of uses as a food additive, the Authority revised the exposure assessment of steviol glycosides and expressed its opinions on 2 May 2014 (4) and on 30 June 2015 (5). As regards those extensions of uses, the Authority concluded that the exposure estimates are below the ADI for all age groups, except for toddlers at the upper range of the high level (95th percentile) estimates, in one country. Exposure calculations carried out by Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu showed that the proposed extension of use did not affect the 95th percentile of exposure in young children aged 2 to 6 years in the Netherlands and that non-alcoholic beverages and flavoured fermented milk products remained the main contributors to exposure to steviol glycosides in that age group.

(7)

Considering that food subcategory 14.1.5.2 covers products not intended to be consumed by toddlers (12 to 35 months old) the proposed uses and use levels of steviol glycosides (E 960) as a sweetener are not of a safety concern.

(8)

Therefore, it is appropriate to authorise the use of steviol glycosides (E 960) as a sweetener added to the energy-reduced or with no added sugars beverages in food subcategory 14.1.5.2 ‘Other’: coffee, tea and herbal infusion beverages (at maximum level of 30 mg/l), flavoured instant coffee and instant cappuccino products (at maximum level of 30 mg/l) and malt-based and chocolate/cappuccino flavoured drinks (at maximum level of 20 mg/l).

(9)

Therefore, Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 should be amended accordingly.

(10)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,

(1)

Article 16(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 establishes the obligation for Member States to keep a national electronic register of road transport undertakings which have been authorised by a competent authority to engage in the occupation of road transport operator. The relevant data contained in the national electronic registers should be made accessible to all the competent authorities of the other Member States. Article 16(5) and (6) of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 require the national electronic registers to be interconnected by 31 December 2012, mandating the Commission to adopt common rules concerning such interconnection. On the basis of this mandate, the Commission adopted Regulation (EU) No 1213/2010 (2), in order to facilitate the interconnection of the national electronic registers through a message exchange system called ERRU (European Registers of Road Transport Undertakings). The latter became operational on 31 December 2012.

(2)

During the last 3 years of operation of ERRU, the Commission, along with experts from Member States, has identified a certain number of aspects related to the practical use of ERRU that do not fully correspond to the administrative processes set up in Member States.

(3)

It is therefore necessary to address the shortcomings that have been identified in the daily operation of ERRU, aligning it with the relevant provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009, Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) and Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4), as well as guaranteeing that ERRU is used in a uniform manner by competent authorities throughout the EU. Moreover, it is necessary to adapt the existing rules to the technical and scientific progress.

(4)

Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/403 (5) with regard to the classification of serious infringements of the Union rules, sets out a new list of categories, types and degrees of seriousness of serious infringements of Union rules, which in addition to those set out in Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009, may lead to the loss of good repute of the road transport undertaking or the transport manager. It is therefore necessary to enable ERRU to transmit information on the new list of infringements.

(5)

The provisions on personal data protection, as laid down in particular by Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (6), apply to the processing of any personal data pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009. In particular, Member States must implement appropriate security measures to prevent misuse of personal data.

(6)

Where applicable, the provisions on personal data protection, as laid down by Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) apply to the processing of any personal data pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009.

(7)

Due to substantial amount of changes which should be made to the common rules for the implementation of the interconnection of the national electronic registers, it is necessary to replace Regulation (EU) No 1213/2010 by a new act. Regulation (EU) No 1213/2010 should therefore be repealed.

(8)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee referred to in Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8),

(a)

‘ERRU (European Registers of Road Transport Undertakings)’ means a system of interconnection of national electronic registers, set up in accordance Article 16(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009;

(b)

‘Asynchronous interface’ means a process whereby a message in response to a request is returned on a new HTTP connection;

(c)

‘Broadcast search’ means a request message from a Member State addressed to all other Member States;

(d)

‘Central hub’ means the information system enabling the routing of ERRU messages between Member States;

(e)

‘CPC’ means certificate of professional competence, as referred to in Article 8(8) of Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009;

(f)

‘Member State of infringement’ means the Member State in which a transport undertaking has committed an infringement;

(g)

‘Member State of establishment’ means the Member State in which an undertaking is established;

(h)

‘National system’ means the information system set up in each Member State for the purpose of emitting, processing and responding to ERRU messages;

(i)

‘Synchronous interface’ means a process whereby a message in response to a request is returned on the same HTTP connection as the one used for the request;

(j)

‘Requesting Member State’ means the Member State emitting a request or a notification, which is then routed to the responding Member States;

(k)

‘Responding Member State’ means the Member State to whom the ERRU request or notification is directed.

(1)

Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) lays down the Union Customs Code and applies from 1 May 2016. That Regulation replaces Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 with effect from 1 May 2016. It also confers powers on the Commission to adopt delegated acts in order to supplement certain non-essential elements of the Union Customs Code and to adopt implementing acts to provide uniform conditions for its implementation.

(2)

The Commission has exercised its delegated powers by adopting Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 (3). The Commission has exercised its implementing powers by adopting Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 (4). Both those Regulations are also to apply from 1 May 2016.

(3)

Commission Regulation (EEC) No 2454/93 (5), which lays down provisions for the implementation of Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92, becomes redundant from the date of application of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2446 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2447 and should therefore be repealed with effect from that date.

(4)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Customs Code Committee,

(1)

Pursuant to Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/1549 (4), public intervention of skimmed milk powder is available until 30 September 2016.

(2)

On the basis of the notifications submitted by Member States on 1 April 2016 in accordance with Article 13(1) and (3) of Regulation (EU) No 1272/2009, it appears that the total quantity of skimmed milk powder offered for intervention at fixed price since 1 January 2016 has exceeded the limit of 109 000 tonnes fixed in Article 3(1)(c) of Regulation (EU) No 1370/2013. Therefore, the intervention buying-in of skimmed milk powder at fixed price should be closed for the intervention period ending 30 September 2016, an allocation coefficient should be fixed for the quantities offered to the intervention agencies of the Member States on 31 March 2016 and the offers received by the intervention agencies of the Member States on and after 1 April 2016 should be rejected.

(3)

In accordance with Article 28(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1272/2009, the skimmed milk powder offered for intervention has to be put in bags of a net weight of 25 kilograms net. Therefore, offered quantities of skimmed milk powder which have been affected by an allocation coefficient should be rounded down to the closest multiple of 25 kg.

(4)

In accordance with Article 3(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1370/2013 a tendering procedure for skimmed milk powder is to be opened to determine the maximum buying-in price.

(5)

Section III of Chapter I of Title II of Regulation (EU) No 1272/2009 lays down the rules to be followed when the Commission opens the intervention buying-in of products referred to in Article 11 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 by a tendering procedure.

(6)

According to Article 16(3)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1272/2009 the periods for the submission of tenders should be fixed.

(7)

In accordance with Article 18(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1272/2009 the time limit for the intervention agencies to notify all admissible tenders to the Commission should be set.

(8)

In the interests of efficient administration, Member States should use, for the notifications to the Commission, the information systems in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 792/2009 (5).

(9)

Since intervention agencies have to notify offerers swiftly following the publication of this Regulation of the closing of the intervention buying-in at fixed price and of the allocation coefficient, this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,

(1)

Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011 lays down, pursuant to the outcome of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations, the criteria whereby the Commission fixes the standard values for imports from third countries, in respect of the products and periods stipulated in Annex XVI, Part A thereto.

(2)

The standard import value is calculated each working day, in accordance with Article 136(1) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 543/2011, taking into account variable daily data. Therefore this Regulation should enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,

(1)

Article 48 of Protocol No 3 on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, as amended by Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2015/2422 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1), provides that the General Court consists of 40 Judges as from 25 December 2015. Article 2(a) of that Regulation determines the term of office of the 12 additional Judges in such a way that the end of their term of office corresponds to the partial replacements of the General Court which will take place on 1 September 2016 and 1 September 2019.

(2)

Mr Leopoldo CALVO-SOTELO IBÁÑEZ-MARTÍN, Mr Zoltán CSEHI, Mr Constantinos ILIOPOULOS, Ms Anna MARCOULLI, Ms Nina PÓŁTORAK, Mr Dean SPIELMANN and Mr Virgilijus VALANČIUS have been nominated for the posts of additional Judges at the General Court.

(3)

The panel set up by Article 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union has given an opinion on the suitability of Mr Leopoldo CALVO-SOTELO IBÁÑEZ-MARTÍN, Mr Zoltán CSEHI, Mr Constantinos ILIOPOULOS, Ms Anna MARCOULLI, Ms Nina PÓŁTORAK, Mr Dean SPIELMANN and Mr Virgilijus VALANČIUS to perform the duties of Judges of the General Court,

—

Mr Zoltán CSEHI,

—

Mr Constantinos ILIOPOULOS,

—

Ms Anna MARCOULLI,

—

Ms Nina PÓŁTORAK,

—

Mr Dean SPIELMANN.

—

Mr Leopoldo CALVO-SOTELO IBÁÑEZ-MARTÍN,

—

Mr Virgilijus VALANČIUS.

(1)

The terms of office of 14 Judges of the General Court are due to expire on 31 August 2016. Appointments should therefore be made for the period from 1 September 2016 to 31 August 2022.

(2)

It has been proposed that the terms of office of Mr Sten FRIMODT NIELSEN, Mr Dimitrios GRATSIAS, Mr Marc JAEGER, Mr Viktor KREUSCHITZ, Mr Savvas S. PAPASAVVAS and Mr Marc VAN DER WOUDE should be renewed.

(3)

Furthermore, Ms Krystyna KOWALIK-BAŃCZYK and Mr Paul NIHOUL have been nominated for the posts of Judges of the General Court.

(4)

The panel set up by Article 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union has given an opinion on the suitability of Mr Sten FRIMODT NIELSEN, Mr Dimitrios GRATSIAS, Mr Marc JAEGER, Ms Krystyna KOWALIK-BAŃCZYK, Mr Viktor KREUSCHITZ, Mr Paul NIHOUL, Mr Savvas S. PAPASAVVAS and Mr Marc VAN DER WOUDE to perform the duties of Judges of the General Court,

—

Mr Sten FRIMODT NIELSEN,

—

Mr Dimitrios GRATSIAS,

—

Mr Marc JAEGER,

—

Ms Krystyna KOWALIK-BAŃCZYK,

—

Mr Viktor KREUSCHITZ,

—

Mr Paul NIHOUL,

—

Mr Savvas S. PAPASAVVAS,

—

Mr Marc VAN DER WOUDE.