Proposals for European Parliament and Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97, establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products
C 376 E/52 EN Official Journal of the European Communities 28. 12. 1999 Proposal for a European Parliament and Council Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97, establishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products (1999/C 376 E/08) COM(1999) 487 final - 1999/0205(COD) (Submitted by the Commission on 27 Oktober 1999) THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, (6) It is therefore necessary to amend Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97. Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 152 thereof, HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Article 1 Having regard to the opinion of Committee, the Economic and Social Article 19 Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 is hereby replaced by the following: Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty, Whereas: (1) Article 19 of Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97, estab- lishing a system for the identification and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and beef products (1), labelling system shall be introduced, which shall be obligatory in from 1 January 2000 onwards. On all Member States, the basis of a Commission proposal, the same Article also states that the general rules for that compulsory system shall be decided before that date. lays down that a compulsory beef (2) The Commission has submitted to the Council a proposal for a regulation replacing Regulation (EC) No 820/97 and the compulsory beef including the general the labelling to be that adoption of completed before 1 January 2000. system. The procedures regulation are not required likely rules for for (3) In principle, the consequence of not adopting a new regu- lation would be that the compulsory system, based on origin, would immediately come into force with no general to guide it. This would create a very uncertain and unsatisfactory situation for beef operators not only in the Community but also in third countries. rules (4) Such an unsatisfactory situation can be avoided by prolonging the current voluntary arrangements laid down in Council Regulation (EC) No 820/97 and by delaying the entry into force of the compulsory labelling system laid down in Article 19 of the same Regulation, by one year. (5) The primary aim of the beef labelling system is protection of public health since it is intended to maintain and strengthen consumer confidence in beef which had been gravely affected by the BSE crisis. The appropriate legal basis for this Regulation is therefore Article 152 of the Treaty. (1) OJ L 117, 7. 5. 1997, p. 1. Article 19 beef-labelling system shall A compulsory be 1. introduced which shall be obligatory in all Member States from 1 January 2001 onwards. However, this compulsory system shall not exclude the possibility for a Member State to decide to apply the system merely on an optional basis to beef sold in that same Member State. The labelling system provided for in this Regulation shall apply until 31 December 2000. On the basis of the report provided for in paragraph 3, the Parliament and the Council, in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 152 of the Treaty, shall therefore take a decision before 1 January 2001 on the general rules for a compulsory beef-labelling system to in accordance with the from that date, apply Community’s international commitments. as 2. Save where otherwise decided by the Parliament and the Council, the labelling system compulsory as from 1 January 2001 shall, in accordance with the Community’s international commitments, in addition to the labelling information referred to in Article 16(3), also require indi- cation of the Member State or third country where the the animal Member States or third countries where the animal was raised and the Member State or third country where the animal was slaughtered. from which the beef is derived was born, 3. Member States shall submit to the Commission, by 1 May 1999, reports on the implementation of the labelling system for beef. The Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the situation regarding the implementation of beef labelling systems in the different Member States. 4. However, Member States where there is a sufficiently developed identification and registration system for bovine animals may before 1 January 2001 impose a compulsory labelling system for beef from animals born, fattened and they may slaughtered on their decide that one or more of information referred to in Article 16(1) and (2) must be indicated on labels. territory. Furthermore, the items of 28. 12. 1999 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 376 E/53 lead to any disruption of States. A compulsory system as provided for in paragraph 4 5. trade between the must not Member arrangements applicable in those Member States intending to apply the provisions of paragraph 4 shall require prior approval from the Commission. implementation The 6. By 1 January 2001, the Parliament and the Council, in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 152 of to whether compulsory indication of data other than those provided take a decision as the Treaty, shall this for in paragraph 2 and extension of Regulation to products other than those indicated in the first indent of Article 13 are possible and desirable. í the scope of Article 2 This regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities. It shall be applicable from 1 January 2000