Council Directive of 30 June 1982 concerning certain products used in animal nutrition (82/471/EEC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Articles 43 and 100 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission⁽¹⁾,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament⁽²⁾,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee⁽³⁾,

1. Whereas livestock production occupies a very important place in the agriculture of the Community and satisfactory results depend to a large extent on the use of appropriate and good quality feedingstuffs;

2. Whereas the existence of rules concerning feedingstuffs is essential to an increase in agricultural productivity;

3. Whereas consumption of feed proteins is continually rising in the Community due to the ever increasing needs of livestock production;

4. Whereas this increasing demand has been accompanied in recent years by an appreciable decline in the supply on the world market of certain protein feedingstuffs;

5. Whereas this shortage has caused the feedingstuffs industry to carry out research into substitution products to assure the availability of supplies;

6. Whereas the provisions laid down in the Member States by law, regulation or administrative action concerning these products, in so far as they exist, differ as regards their basic principles; whereas it follows that they directly affect the establishment and functioning of the common market and should therefore be harmonized;

7. Whereas these substitution products are produced by new technical processes and it is therefore desirable to regulate their marketing as feedingstuffs or constituents of feedingstuffs by prescribing, for each group concerned, which individual products shall be authorized and under what conditions of use;

8. Whereas it is necessary, before including a new product in one of the groups concerned, to ascertain that it has the required nutritional value; whereas it must be established that these products, when used sensibly, have no detrimental effect on human or animal health or on the environment and do not harm the consumer by impairing the distinctive features of animal products;

9. Whereas, in order to ensure compliance with the fundamental principles laid down for the authorization, a dossier should be submitted officially by a Member State for products belonging to certain groups; whereas, in order to facilitate the examination of the substances concerned, these dossiers should be prepared in accordance with the common guidelines to be set by the Council not later than the date of application of the Directive;

10. Whereas it is desirable, pending a Community decision, to allow Member States temporarily to maintain the national authorizations they have granted for products which do not at present appear in the Annex to the Directive or for specific products meeting in certain cases other conditions; whereas, however, for products obtained from yeasts of the ‘Candida’ variety and cultivated on n-alkanes a Community decision should be taken within two years of the notification of this Directive;

11. Whereas non-protein nitrogenous compounds, by reason of their indirect provision of protein, must be subject to the provisions of this Directive; whereas it is consequently desirable to amend with regard to its Annexes Council Directive 70/524/EEC of 23 November 1970 concerning additives in feedingstuffs⁽⁴⁾, which temporarily regulates the use of products of this group;

12. Whereas the nutritional value and safety of the products in question depend to a large extent on their compositional characteristics, conditions of use and processes of manufacture; whereas it is therefore essential to provide in certain cases for labelling to protect the user against fraud and to facilitate the optimal use of the products available to him;

13. Whereas it is not appropriate to apply Community provisions to the products concerned, or to feedingstuffs containing these products, intended for export to third countries because in general these countries have their own regulations;

14. Whereas, in order to ensure that the requirements of this Directive are satisfied when these products, or feedingstuffs containing these products, are placed on the market, Member States must make provision for appropriate control arrangements;

15. Whereas products, or feedingstuffs containing such products, satisfying these requirements must be subject only to the marketing restrictions provided for in this Directive;

16. Whereas an appropriate Community procedure is essential to adapt the provisions of the Annex and the guidelines laid down for the submission of dossiers relating to certain products and, where necessary, to fix criteria of composition and purity as well as the physico-chemical and biological properties of these products in the light of the development of scientific and technical knowledge;

17. Whereas, with a view to providing all necessary guarantees, the Community procedure adopted should make provision in certain cases of amendment of the Annex for the compulsory consultation of the Scientific Committee for Animal Nutrition and the Scientific Committee for Food, set up by the Commission;

18. Whereas Member States should retain the power, if human or animal health is endangered, temporarily to suspend authorization of the use of a product or to amend any provisions relating thereto;

19. Whereas, in order that a Member State should not abuse that power, possible amendments to the Annex based on supporting documents should be decided by emergency Community procedure;

20. Whereas, in order to facilitate implementation of this Directive, a procedure should be applied which establishes close cooperation between Member States and the Commission within the Standing Committee for Feedingstuffs set up by Decision 70/372/EEC⁽⁵⁾,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: