7.11.2006 Official Journal of the European Union L 306/3 COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 1635/2006 of 6 November 2006 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 737/90 on the conditions governing imports of agricultural products originating in third countries following the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power-station THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 737/90 of 22 March 1990 on the conditions governing imports of agri- cultural products originating in third countries following the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power-station ('), and in particular Article 6 thereof, Whereas: Commission Regulation (EC) No 1661/1999 of 27 July 1999 laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EEC) No 737/90 on the conditions governing imports of agricultural products originating in third countries following the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power-station (%) has been amended several times. Since further amendments are to be made, it should be recast in the interests of clarity, as provided for in the simplification rolling programme annexed to the Communication of the Commission on a strategy for the simplification of the regulatory environment (3). The fallout of radiocaesium from the accident at the Chernobyl power station on 26 April 1986 has affected a wide range of third countries. Repeated cases of non compliance with the maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination have been recorded in consignments of certain types of mushrooms imported from a number of third countries. Similar fallout has affected certain parts of the territories of some Member States. Forest and wooded areas generally are the natural habitat of uncultivated mushrooms and such ecosystems tend to retain radiocaesium in a cyclic exchange between soil and vegetation. (') OJ L 82, 29.3.1990, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 806/2003 (O] L 122, 16.5.2003, p. 1)) (®» OJ L 197, 29.7.1999, p. 17. Regulation as last amended by the 2003 Act of Accession. (}) COM(2005) 535 final. ©) As a result, the continuous radiocaesium contamination of uncultivated mushrooms has, in the period since the Chernobyl accident, hardly declined and may well have increased in the case of certain species. In 1986, the Commission carried out an assessment, subsequently updated, of possible risks on human health from foodstuffs contaminated by radioactive caesium. That assessment of possible risks is still valid today, taking into account the physical radioactive period of the substance in question, and, in addition, the maximum permitted level conforms in essence to the level recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. In accordance with Article 4 of Regulation (EEC) No 737/90, the Member States must carry out checks on products originating in third countries. Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety (¥ set up a rapid alert system for information on a direct or indirect risk to human health deriving from food or feed. That system should apply by analogy to the notification of recorded cases of non- compliance with the provisions on maximum permitted levels under this Regulation. The measures in situ in the territories of the Member States flow from the legal obligations of those States pursuant to Articles 35 and 36 of the Euratom Treaty, the Community measures already referred to and national measures and controls which, taken together, are, in terms of equivalence of result, equal to those enacted in this Regulation. The Commission is taking all the necessary measures to ensure that the Member States comply effectively with their legal obligations in this respect. In particular, the Commission made a recommendation to the Member States on 14 April 2003 on the protection and information of the public with regard to exposure resulting from the continued radioactive caesium contamination of certain wild food products as a consequence of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station (%). (% OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 575/2006 (O] L 100, 8.4.2006, p. 3). () OJ L 99, 17.4.2003, p. 55.