4.8.1999 Official Journal of the European Communities L 204/37 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COUNCIL COUNCIL DECISION of 19 July 1999 on measures applying to the processing of certain animal waste to protect against transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and amending Commission Decision 97/735/EC (1999/534/EC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Directive 90/425/EEC of 26 June 1990 concerning veterinary and zootechnical checks applicable in intra-Community trade in certain live animals and products with a view to the completion of the internal market ('), and in particular Article 10(4) thereof, Having regard to the proposal of the Commission, Whereas: (1)  Council Directive 90/667/EEC (?), lays down the veter- inary rules for the disposal and processing of animal waste, for its placing on the market and for the preven- tion of pathogens in feedstuffs of animal or fish origin; (2)  Commission Decision 92/562[EEC (%), defined alternative systems of heat treatment as provided for in paragraph 6(c) of Chapter II of Annex II to Directive 90/667 [EEC; (3)  In 1994, phase 1 of a scientific study into the physical parameters which must be applied in order to inactivate the agents of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and scrapie identified the minimum parameters neces- sary for inactivation of the BSE agent; it also identified certain processes which were not effective; (') OJ L 224, 18.8.1990, p.29. Directive as last amended by Directive 92/118[EEC (O] L 62, 15.3.1993, p.49). (® OJ L 363, 27.12.1990, p.51. Directive as last amended by the 1994 Act of Accession. () OJ L 359, 9.12.1992, p. 23. Directive as last amended by the 1994 Act of Accession. (4) The result of phase 2 of that study showed that only one system tested was capable of fully inactivating the scrapie agent in meat-and-bone meal; It is therefore necessary to ensure that systems which have been shown to be ineffective are not used for the processing of mammalian animal waste in order to protect animals from the hazard of spongiform ence- phalopathy agents in animal feed, unless an effective sterilisation phase is added to the process; At its meeting from 1 to 3 April 1996, the Council concluded that a Commission Decision should be adopted under the Standing Veterinary Committee procedure in order to require all animal waste of mammalian origin in the Community to be processed by a method that has been demonstrated as being de facto effective for the inactivation of the agents of scrapie and BSE; the only such method at present is the application of heat in a rendering system which achieves a minimum 133 °C at 3 bar for a minimum period of 20 minutes; that method may be applied as the sole process or as a pre- or post-process sterilisation phase; The Scientific Steering Committee adopted an opinion on the safety of meat-and-bone meal from mammalian animals, naturally or experimentally susceptible to trans- missible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) on 26 and 27 March 1998; that opinion has been updated by a scientific report on the safety of meat-and-bone meal derived from mammalian animals fed to non-ruminant food-producing farm animals adopted by the Scientific Steering Committee on 24 and 25 September 1998;