91997E1890

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1890/97 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (2 June 1997)

Subject: Food additives other than colours and sweeteners

The 'Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive amending European Parliament and Council Directive 95/2/EC on food additives other than colours and sweeteners' (COM(96) 0303 final - 96/0166 COD) ((OJ C 76, 11.3.1997, p. 34. )) is intended to introduce certain new categories of foodstuffs in which additives that are already permitted may be used. In fact, by the time the deadlines set for transposing the directive have expired these categories, though already on the market, could have been banned, while the Member States would have lost the opportunity of altering the lists or the rules on the use of additives on their own initiative.

The proposal also takes account of the recent evaluations of the Scientific Committee for Food, which supported the use of certain new additives.

Will the Commission ensure that amendments which only involve alterations at the level of implementation are adopted by means of a committee procedure, with the participation of the Scientific Committee for Food, after prior consultations with the different socio-economic groups represented on the Scientific Committee for Food?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-1889/97 and E-1890/97 given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission (26 June 1997)

In accordance with Directive 89/107/EEC, the framework directive on food additives, the list of additives the use of which is authorized to the exclusion of all others and the list of foodstuffs to which these additives may be added, the conditions under which they may be added and where appropriate, a limit on the technological purpose of their use must be adopted by the Parliament and the Council in accordance with the co-decision procedure laid down by Article 189b of the EC Treaty.

In its recent green paper on the general principles of food law in the European Union ((COM(97) 176. )), the Commission has explicitly drawn attention to the difficulties in updating the rules on additives to take account of technical and scientific progress, and has invited comments from all interested parties on this question. These comments will be considered in the light of the institutional and intergovernmental discussions in progress and may lead the Commission to bring forward proposals to simplify the relevant procedures.