Notifications for European Union (1104 notifications)

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/229/Add.1 (10 January 2018) has been corrected by "Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/202 of 14 February 2022 correcting Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2470 establishing the Union list of novel foods (Text with EEA relevance)" [OJ L 33, 15 February 2022, p. 41].The measure concerns an amendment of the Union list of novel foods in order to correct some errors identified in the Union list of novel foods (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2470).This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/441 (5 November 2020) is now adopted by Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/78 of 19 January 2022 amending Annexes II and III to Regulation (EC) No. 396/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards maximum residue levels for dazomet, hexythiazox, metam and methylisothiocyanate in or on certain products (Text with EEA relevance) [OJ L 13, 20 January 2022, p. 5]. The maximum residue levels for clethodim and sethoxydim included in the proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/441 were not adopted, pending the current renewal of approval of clethodim. The applicable maximum residue levels remain the ones adopted by Commission Regulation (EU) 839/2008.The Regulation shall apply from 9 August 2022.

Implementing Regulation 2019/2072 contains the list of Union Quarantine pests, Protected Zone Quarantine Pests and Regulated Non-Quarantine Pests (RNQPs). Furthermore, it lays down phytosanitary import and internal movement requirements for plants, plant products and other objects that may pose a phytosanitary risk to the European Union.The draft amendment of Implementing Regulation 2019/2072 stipulates: - Revision of the import requirements for fruits of Capsicum (L.), Citrus, other than Citrus aurantiifolia (Christm.) Swingle Citrus limon (L.) Osbeck., Prunus persica (L.) Batsch and Punica granatum L. in relation to the pest Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick). -Specific import requirements for Citrus sinensis Pers. in relation to the pest Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Meyrick).

Official controls must be performed by the competent authorities regularly, on a risk basis and with appropriate frequency. This delegated Regulation provides additional requirements based on Article 19(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 to those laid down in implementing Regulation SANTE 11186-2018. This delegated act sets out specific requirements regarding the content of the national control plans for contaminants, such as sampling frequency, range of samples and stage of production, processing and distribution where the samples are to be taken and criteria to be taken into account for the design of the control plans.

Official controls must be performed by the competent authorities regularly, on a risk basis and with appropriate frequency. Therefore, this implementing act sets out the general requirements of content of the national control plans for contaminants, while leaving the risk-based design up to the Member States in line with the general approach of Regulation (EU) 2017/625. These plans substitute the control plans according to repealed Council Directive 96/23/EC. This Regulation is interlinked with the Commission Delegated Regulation which sets out specific requirements such as sampling frequency, range of samples and stage of production, processing and distribution where the samples are to be taken and criteria to be taken into account for the design of the control plans

This draft Commission Implementing Regulation provides that the approval of the active substance bifenazate is renewed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. It is however, necessary to include certain conditions and restrictions, i.e. to restrict the use of plant protection products containing bifenazate to non-edible crops in permanent greenhouses and to require further confirmatory information.Existing authorised plant protection products containing bifenazate will be reviewed in accordance with the conditions and restrictions set in this act. The conditions and restrictions are based on the first evaluation of the substance for use as a pesticide active substance in the EU under Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009. The substance was formerly approved under Directive 91/414/EEC.This decision only concerns the placing on the market of this substance. Following restriction of the approval and the consequent expiry of all grace periods for stocks of products, separate legal action may be taken on Maximum Residue Levels and a separate notification will be made in accordance with SPS procedures in due time.This draft Commission Regulation was also notified under the TBT Agreement in notice G/TBT/N/EU/867.

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/489 (21 May 2020) is now adopted by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/68 of 27 October 2021 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/934 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards authorized oenological practices [OJ L 12, 19 January 2022, p. 1].This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/512 (13 October 2021) is now adopted by Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/63 of 14 January 2022 amending Annexes II and III to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the food additive titanium dioxide (E 171) (Text with EEA relevance) [OJ L 11, 18 January 2021, p. 1]. The Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The Regulation amends two existing import certificates (hatching eggs of poultry other than ratites and hatching eggs of ratites). The amendment provides flexibility for the competent authority of the exporting country as regards the moment when the clinical inspection of the flock of origin must take place prior to the loading of the hatching eggs for dispatch to the EU. The Regulation also provides for a new certificate for racing pigeons immediately released after entry into the EU. This new certificate facilitates the import of these type of captive birds when they are going to be immediately released after the entry into the EU.

The Regulation reflects in the relevant health certificates specific BSE-related import requirements laid down by Commission Regulation 2021/1176 of 16 July 2021; clarifies that the exemption to use attestations set out in Part II.2 of Chapters 28 and 31 of Annex III to Regulation (EU) 2020/2235 applies to products of animal origin that enter the Union ‘ready for direct human consumption, without undergoing further processing in the Union', and by defining ‘further processing'; improves the guarantees regarding the authenticity of honey entering the Union by aligning the EU import requirements with those set by Council Directive 2001/110/EC; and corrects some inconsistencies between the wording in certain model official certificates and model animal health/official certificates for entry into the Union of consignments of certain live aquatic animals and products of animal origin and provisions of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/692.

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/499 (30 July 2021) is now adopted by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2285 of 14 December 2021 amending Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 as regards the listing of pests, prohibitions and requirements for the introduction into, and movement within, the Union of plants, plant products and other objects, and repealing Decisions 98/109/EC and 2002/757/EC and Implementing Regulations (EU) 2020/885 and (EU) 2020/1292 [OJ L 458, 22 December 2021, p. 173].The Regulation shall apply from 11 April 2022. However, point 7(e) of the Annex shall apply from 1 May 2022 and points (6)(b)(i) and (6)(l)(i) of the Annex shall apply from 11 January 2023.

The Regulation corrects and amends Regulation (EU) 2021/404 to address certain inconsistencies between the lists of third countries, territories or zones thereof authorized for the entry into the Union under the Animal Health Law, and applicable from 21 April 2021, and the lists of third countries authorised for imports into the Union laid down in a number of EU legal acts which were repealed as from that date.

Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 lays down rules concerning the temporary increase of official controls upon entry into the Union on certain food and feed of non-animal origin from certain third countries (in Annex I); special import conditions for certain food and feed from certain third countries due to the contamination risk by mycotoxins, including aflatoxins, pesticide residues, pentachlorophenol and dioxins and microbiological contamination (in Annex II - increased official border controls and official certificate accompanied by the results of sampling and analysis in the third country).This Implementing Regulation amends Annexes I and II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 by introducing the following changes: - Transfer from Anne I to Annex II of black pepper from Brazil, aubergines, peppers other than sweet and yardlong beans from Dominican Republic and mandarins and oranges from Turkey; - Transfer from Annex II to Annex I of groundnuts and products produced from ground nuts from Argentina and hazelnuts and products produced from hazelnuts from Azerbaijan; - Deletion from Annex I of hazelnuts and products produced from hazelnuts Turkey; - Decrease in the frequency of identity and physical checks laid down in Annex I for sweet peppers from China; - Increase in the frequency of identity and physical checks laid down in Annex II for peppers of the genus capsicum from India and pitahaya from Viet Nam; - Amending to the entry for the countries listed in Annex I and Annex II concerning groundnuts with adding groundnuts paste; Inclusion in Annex I Galia melons from Honduras, drumsticks (moringa oleifera) from India, rice from India and Pakistan, gotukola and mukunuwenna from Sri Lanka, and grapefruits, cumin seeds and dried oregano from Turkey; - Inclusion in Annex I locust beans (carob), mucilages and thickeners, whether or not modified, derived from locust beans and locust bean seeds from Morocco, tomato ketchup and other tomato sauces from Mexico and pepper of genus Capsicum (other than sweet) from Uganda; - Inclusion in Annex II xantan gum from China; locust beans (including mucilages and thickeners derived from locust beans), Guar gum, several spices, Calcium carbonate and food supplements containing botanicals from India, food supplements containing botanicals and instant noodles from South Korea, locust beans (including mucilages and thickeners derived from locust beans) from Malaysia and Turkey and instant noodles from Viet Nam; - Deleted requirement for laboratory checks for possible contamination with pesticides for Sesamum seeds from India. In addition, this Implementing Regulation amends Article 14 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1793, in particular the transitional period.

The Regulation amends model private attestation by the operator entering shelf-stable composite products into the Union provided for in Annex V to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2235 as regards treatment requirements for the dairy products contained in those composite products. It aligns the attestation with the amendment to Article 163 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/692 introduced by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1703.

The general objective of this Regulation is to prevent Chronic Wasting Disease from further spreading in the Union. It establishes a permanent framework, and where necessary restrictions or prohibitions, for the control of movements of live cervids in and from the affected countries, as well as of the intra-EU trade and import of cervid urine hunting lures.

Under regulation (EC) No 999/2001 laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, the use of processed animal protein (PAP) derived from insects is authorised in feed for aquaculture, for pig and for poultry, but not in feed for other farmed animals. The present Regulation updates Annex VI of Regulation 152/2009 laying down the methods of analysis for the determination of constituents of animal origin for the official control of feed, as regards the methods of analysis for the detection of constituents of terrestrial invertebrates for the official control of feed.

The proposed draft Regulation concerns the review of existing MRLs for 1,4-dimethylnaphthalene, 8-hydroxyquinoline, pinoxaden and valifenalate in certain food commodities. MRLs for these substances in certain commodities are changed: either increased or lowered. Lower MRLs are set after updating the limits of determination and/or deleting old uses which are not authorised any more in the European Union or for which a human health concern may not be excluded following the relevant risk assessment. The residue definition for some substances has also been updated.

Following the evaluation of confirmatory data, the proposed draft Regulation amends the existing MRLs for 2,4-D, azoxystrobin, cyhalofop-butyl, cymoxanil, fenhexamid, flazasulfuron, florasulam, iprovalicarb and silthiofam in certain food commodities and keeps the existing MRLs for fluroxypyr.

The proposed draft Regulation concerns the review of existing MRLs for bifenthrin, bromopropylate, chloridazon, fenpropimorph, imazaquin and tralkoxydim in certain food commodities. MRLs for these substances in certain commodities are lowered. Lower MRLs are set after updating the limits of determination and/or deleting old uses which are not authorised any more in the European Union or for which a human health concern may not be excluded.

The proposed draft Regulation concerns the review of existing MRLs for methoxyfenozide, propoxur, spinosad and thiram in certain food commodities. MRLs for these substances in certain commodities are changed. Lower MRLs are set after updating the limits of determination and/or deleting old uses which are not authorised any more in the European Union or for which a human health concern may not be excluded.