(1)

Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 lays down the public and animal health rules for the collection, transport, storage, handling, processing and use or disposal of animal by-products in order to prevent those products from presenting a risk to public or animal health.

(2)

Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 lays down rules for the use of certain animal by-products derived from the production of products intended for human consumption and former foodstuffs of animal origin, falling within the definition of Category 3 material in that Regulation, including milk and milk-based products no longer intended for human consumption. Regulation (EC) No 1774/2004 also provides for the possibility to use Category 3 material in other ways, in accordance with the procedure laid down in that Regulation and after consultation of the appropriate scientific committee.

(3)

According to opinions of the Scientific Steering Committee of 1996, 1999 and 2000, there is no evidence that milk transmits bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and any risk from milk is considered to be negligible. In its state of affairs report of 15 March 2001, the TSE/BSE ad hoc Group upheld that advice.

(4)

On the basis of those opinions, milk, milk-based products and colostrum are derogated from the prohibition on the feeding of animal protein to farmed animals, which are kept, fattened or bred for the production of food, in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalophathies (2).

(5)

Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 does not apply to liquid milk and colostrum disposed of or used on the farm of origin. That Regulation also permits the application to land of milk and colostrum as a fertiliser or soil improver, if the competent authority does not consider them to present a risk of spreading any serious transmissible disease, given that farmed animals could have access to such land and therefore could be exposed to such a risk.

(6)

Under Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002, Category 3 material is to be used in accordance with strict conditions and the feeding of such material to farmed animals is allowed only after processing in an approved Category 3 processing plant.

(7)

Animal by-products derived from the production of dairy products intended for human consumption and former dairy foodstuffs are generally produced in establishments approved in accordance with Council Directive 92/46/EEC of 16 June 1992 laying down the health rules for the production and placing on the market of raw milk, heat-treated milk and milk-based products (3). Ready-to-use dairy products are generally wrapped and, therefore, the possibility for subsequent contamination of the product is minimal.

(8)

The Commission is to seek the advice of the European Food Safety Authority on the possibility to feed to farmed animals, and under the required conditions to minimise risks, ready-to-use milk, milk-based products and milk-derived products, falling within the definition of Category 3 material in Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002, (the products), without further treatment.

(9)

Pending that advice and in the light of the current scientific opinions and of the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare report on the strategy for emergency vaccination against foot-and-mouth disease of 1999, it is appropriate to lay down, on a provisional basis, specific measures for the collection, transportation, processing, and use of these products.

(10)

Appropriate control systems should be put in place in the Member States to ensure compliance with this Regulation and to take appropriate actions in case of non-compliance. Member States should also take into account their risk assessment for the best and worst case scenarios carried out in preparation of their contingency plans for epizootic diseases, when deciding on the number of registered holdings that may be authorised to use the products concerned.

(11)

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