51999AC1122

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 70/524/EEC concerning additives in feedingstuffs"

(2000/C 51/07)

On 10 September 1999 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 37 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment, which was responsible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 15 November 1999. The rapporteur was Mr Donnelly.

At its 368th plenary session (meeting of 8 December 1999), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 111 votes to one with one abstention.

1. Preliminary comments

1.1. Council Directive 70/524/EEC of 23 November 1970 concerning additives in feeding-stuffs, as amended by Directive 96/51/EC establishes for certain additives (antibiotics, coccidiostats and other medicinal substances, and growth promoters) a system which provides for the Commission to replace existing authorisations under certain conditions.

1.2. However, there is no legal base for the replacement of the authorisations given before 1 January 1988, (except the footnote in Annex B Chapter I of the annex of Directive 70/524/EEC as amended by Directive 96/51/EC).

1.3. If this proposal were not enacted, all additives authorised before 1 January 1988 and evaluated according to lower standard than since January 1988 would remain authorised, and also as in the past, the copy products. In contrast, for the more recent additives (authorised after January 1988) conditioned by the higher test of "link to the person responsible for putting into circulation", the copy products will be forbidden.

1.4. This has created an incoherent system certainly contrary to the intentions of the legislator. The purpose of this proposed amendment is to establish a coherent legal situation ensuring that these replacements can take place at the same time for all additives concerned, irrespective of the date when their authorisation was granted.

2. Specific comments

2.1. The ESC agrees with the Commission proposal which corrects the legal anomaly and ensures that the same high standards of evaluation particularly with regard to product safety applies to high technology additives. It also facilitates equal treatment for all products concerned.

Brussels, 8 December 1999.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Beatrice RANGONI MACHIAVELLI