23.5. 96 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 125/35 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 96/25/EC of 29 April 1996 on the circulation of feed materials, amending Directives 70/524/EEC, 74/63/EEC, 82/471/EEC and 93/74/EEC and repealing Directive 77/101/EEC THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), /Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament(?), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (), (1) Whereas, in the framework of the production, processing and consumption of agricultural products feed materials play an important role in agriculture; (2) Whereas, in the light of growing interest in quality, efficiency and the environment, the role of feed materials in agriculture will gain in importance; (3) Whereas, in these circumstances, the rules governing the circulation .of feed materials are particularly  useful in  ensuring  sufficient transparency throughout the feed chain while improving the quality of agricultural production, notably livestock production; (4) Whereas Council Directive 77/101/EEC  of 23 November 1976 on the marketing of straight feedingstuffs(*), lays down rules for the marketing of straight feedingstuffs; whereas Member States still have different traditions as regards regulating the marketing of raw materials; whereas for that reason Directive 77/101/EEC permits Member States to provide for derogations in certain cases; (5) Whereas the result of these derogations is that in some Member States Directive 77/101/EEC governs the marketing of both straight feedingstuffs and raw feed materials and in other Member States only ) O N ) OJ No C 305, 31, 10. 1994, p. 147. ) O] No C 102, 24, 4. 1995, p. 10. %) QJ No L'32, 3. 2. 1977, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive 90/654/EEC (O] No L 353, 17. 12. 1990, p. 48). o C 236, 24. 8. 1994, p. 7. the marketing of straight feedingstuffs, which allows straight feedingstuffs to be sold as raw feed materials not subject to rules; (6) Whereas, with a view to the smooth functioning of the internal market, the discrepancies which can still be noted among the Member States should be removed; whereas, in view of the extent of the sector under consideration, Directive 77/101/EEC should be replaced by new rules; (7) Whereas straight feedingstuffs and raw feed materials are so similar and close, that to ensure a consistent integration of the scope of this Directive they should be placed in one category, namely ‘feed materials’; (8) Whereas the new definition ‘feed materials’ includes the intended purpose of these products, namely the use in oral animal feeding, as provided for in the existing definitions for ‘feedingstuffs’ and ‘compound  feedingstuffs’; whereas it is thus guaranteed that the term ‘feedingstuffs’ can now be used as a generic term for all feed materials and compound feedingstuffs; (9) Whereas this comprehensive definition for ‘feedingstuffs’ is particularly important for Council Directive 70/524/EEC of 23 November 1970 concerning additives in feedingstuffs (°) and Council Directive 74/63/EEC of 17 December 1973 on undesirable substances and products in animal nutrition (°); whereas in certain cases both terms ‘feedingstuffs’ and ‘feed materials’ will be used in order to specify the provisions, since in Directive 74/63/EEC certain provisions only apply to feed materials, whereas other provisions apply to all feedingstuffs including feed materials; (10) Whereas, in order to achieve the desired transparency throughout the entire feed chain, this Directive covers the ‘circulation’ of feed materials; (') O] No L 270, 14. 12. 1970, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 95/55/EC (O] No L 263, 4. 11. 1995, p. 18). (*) O] No L 38, 11. 2. 1974, p. 31. Directive as last amended by Directive 93/74/EEC (O] No L 237, 22, 9. 1993, p. 23).