(1)

Regulation (EC) No 3223/94 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 the Annex thereto.

(2)

In compliance with the above criteria, the standard import values must be fixed at the levels set out in the Annex to this Regulation,

(1)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1661/1999 of 27 July 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 737/90 on the conditions governing imports of agricultural products originating in third countries following the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power-station (2) has been amended several times. Since further amendments are to be made, it should be recast in the interests of clarity, as provided for in the simplification rolling programme annexed to the Communication of the Commission on a strategy for the simplification of the regulatory environment (3).

(2)

The fallout of radiocaesium from the accident at the Chernobyl power station on 26 April 1986 has affected a wide range of third countries. Repeated cases of non compliance with the maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination have been recorded in consignments of certain types of mushrooms imported from a number of third countries.

(3)

Similar fallout has affected certain parts of the territories of some Member States.

(4)

Forest and wooded areas generally are the natural habitat of uncultivated mushrooms and such ecosystems tend to retain radiocaesium in a cyclic exchange between soil and vegetation.

(5)

As a result, the continuous radiocaesium contamination of uncultivated mushrooms has, in the period since the Chernobyl accident, hardly declined and may well have increased in the case of certain species.

(6)

In 1986, the Commission carried out an assessment, subsequently updated, of possible risks on human health from foodstuffs contaminated by radioactive caesium. That assessment of possible risks is still valid today, taking into account the physical radioactive period of the substance in question, and, in addition, the maximum permitted level conforms in essence to the level recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

(7)

In accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 737/90, the Member States must carry out checks on products originating in third countries.

(8)

Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European 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 (4) set up a rapid alert system for information on a direct or indirect risk to human health deriving from food or feed. That system should apply by analogy to the notification of recorded cases of non-compliance with the provisions on maximum permitted levels under this Regulation.

(9)

The measures in situ in the territories of the Member States flow from the legal obligations of those States pursuant to Articles 35 and 36 of the Euratom Treaty, the Community measures already referred to and national measures and controls which, taken together, are, in terms of equivalence of result, equal to those enacted in this Regulation. The Commission is taking all the necessary measures to ensure that the Member States comply effectively with their legal obligations in this respect. In particular, the Commission made a recommendation to the Member States on 14 April 2003 on the protection and information of the public with regard to exposure resulting from the continued radioactive caesium contamination of certain wild food products as a consequence of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station (5).

(10)

Even if the provisions for sampling and analysis of various agricultural products merit future consideration, the immediate requirement is to strengthen those provisions with respect to mushrooms.

(11)

In order to allow more efficient controls, it is, as a consequence, necessary to identify a restricted number of customs offices where certain products may be declared for free circulation in the Community.

(12)

The lists of customs offices and of third countries can be reviewed as appropriate, taking into account, inter alia, future compliance with the maximum permitted levels and other information allowing the Commission to judge whether there is a need to maintain a third country on the list.

(13)

For the same reason it is appropriate that export certificates, as referred to in Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 737/90, be provided for each consignment of such products.

(14)

It is appropriate that the competent authorities of the Member States be authorised, at their discretion, to levy charges for sampling and analysis and for destruction of the product or its return provided that the principle of proportionality is observed in exercising the option of destruction or return and provided also that, in any event, the charges so levied do not exceed the costs incurred.

(15)

The provisions of this Regulation are in accordance with the international obligations of the Community, in particular those resulting from the agreements establishing the World Trade Organisation, taking into account the right of the Community to adopt and apply measures that are necessary to achieve the level of health protection chosen in the territory of its Member States.

(16)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the committee referred to in Article 7 of Regulation (EEC) No 737/90,

(1)

Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 2368/2002 provides for amending the list of participants in the Kimberley Process certification scheme in Annex II.

(2)

The Chair of the Kimberley Process certification scheme, through his Chair’s Notice of 20 October 2006, has decided to add Bangladesh to the list of Participants as of 20 October 2006.

(3)

Bulgaria has notified the EC that the Ministry of Finance has been designated as the competent authority with responsibility for implementation of the Kimberley Process certification scheme.

(4)

Annex II should therefore be amended accordingly,

(1)

The introduction of the euro by Slovenia on 1 January 2007 means that credit institutions and branches of credit institutions located in Slovenia will be subject to reserve requirements from that date.

(2)

The integration of these entities into the minimum reserve system of the European Central Bank (ECB) requires the adoption of transitional provisions in order to ensure smooth integration without creating a disproportionate burden for credit institutions in participating Member States, including Slovenia.

(3)

Article 5 of the Statute in conjunction with Article 10 of the Treaty establishing the European Community implies an obligation for Member States to design and implement at national level all the appropriate measures to collect the statistical information needed to fulfil the statistical reporting requirements of the ECB and to ensure timely preparation in the field of statistics to adopt the euro,

(1)

Article 4(2) and Article 16(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2003 on genetically modified food and feed (2) provide that no genetically modified food or feed is to be placed on the Community market unless it is covered by an authorisation granted in accordance with that Regulation. Article 4(3) and Article 16(3) of the same Regulation lay down that no genetically modified food and feed may be authorised unless it has been adequately and sufficiently demonstrated that it does not have adverse effects on human health, animal health or the environment, that it does not mislead the consumer or the user, and that it does not differ from the food or feed it is intended to replace to such an extent that its normal consumption would be nutritionally disadvantageous for humans or animals.

(2)

Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 provides for the possibility to adopt appropriate Community emergency measures for food and feed imported from a third country in order to protect human health, animal health or the environment, where the risk cannot be contained satisfactorily by means of measures taken by the Member States concerned.

(3)

On 18 August 2006, the authorities of the United States of America informed the Commission that rice products contaminated with the genetically modified rice ‘LL RICE 601’ (‘the contaminated products’), which have not been authorised for placing on the market in the Community, had been found in rice samples taken on the US market from commercial long-grain rice from the 2005 crop.

(4)

In view of the presumption of risk on products not authorised according to Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003, Commission Decision 2006/578/EC of 23 August 2006 on emergency measures regarding the non-authorised genetically modified organism ‘LL RICE 601’ in rice products (3) provisionally banned the placing on the market of the contaminated products. Those emergency measures were confirmed by Commission Decision 2006/601/EC (4) which repealed and replaced Decision 2006/578/EC and required Member States not to allow the placing on the market of certain rice products originating from the United States unless the consignment is accompanied by an original analytical report issued by an accredited laboratory attesting that the product does not contain genetically modified rice ‘LL RICE 601’.

(5)

The European Food Safety Authority, requested for scientific support on the issue, issued a statement on 14 September 2006 concluding that although it can be considered that the consumption of imported long grain rice containing trace levels of ‘LL RICE 601’ is not likely to pose an imminent safety concern to humans or animals the available data are insufficient to enable a full safety assessment of the genetically modified rice ‘LL RICE 601’ in accordance with the EFSA guidance for risk assessment.

(6)

Checks carried out in the Member States have shown that in addition to the rice products currently referred to in Decision 2006/601/EC other rice products may be contaminated with the genetically modified rice ‘LL RICE 601’. Such products should therefore be included in the scope of Decision 2006/601/EC.

(7)

Checks carried out by Member States have also revealed the presence of genetically modified rice ‘LL RICE 601’ in some consignments despite being accompanied by an original analytical report as requested by Decision 2006/601/EC. Contacts initiated thereafter with the US authorities in order to eliminate the risk of presence of unauthorised GM rice have not been successful. In those circumstances, in order to ensure that no contaminated product is placed on the market and in order to guarantee the high level of health protection required in the Community, without imposing restrictions to trade which go beyond what it is necessary, it appears necessary, while maintaining the obligation to issue an analytical report as requested by Decision 2006/601/EC, to provisionally carry out systematic official sampling and analysis of each consignment of specific products originating from the United States before their placing on the market.

(8)

Sampling methodologies play a crucial role in obtaining representative and comparable results; it is therefore appropriate to define a common protocol for sampling and analysis for the control of the absence of the genetically modified rice ‘LL RICE 601’.

(9)

Since the measures provided for in this Decision have an impact on the control resources of the Member States it is appropriate to require that all costs resulting from sampling, analysis and storage and all costs resulting from official measures taken as regards non-compliant consignments are to be borne by the importers or food business operators concerned.

(10)

Those measures should be reviewed within two months in order to assess whether they are still necessary, in the light of their impact and of the practical experience gained on the existing testing requirements.

(11)

Decision 2006/601/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

(12)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,

1.

Article 1 is replaced by the following:

2.

Article 2 is replaced by the following:

3.

Article 3 is replaced by the following:

4.

Article 5 is replaced by the following:

5.

Article 6 is replaced by the following: