Notifications for European Union (1104 notifications)

Pursuant to Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283, the Commission has to establish the Union list of novel foods authorised or notified under Regulation (EC) No 258/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 1997 concerning novel foods and novel food ingredients. The draft measure will transform the current EU authorisations of novel foods to a generic authorisation while keeping the list of authorised novel foods and the conditions and use specifications unchanged. The measure will allow any non-EU food business operator to place on the EU market any substance listed in the Union list provided that they comply with the conditions of use and specifications therein. The measure will thus facilitate trade in novel foods.

The draft Regulation grants special guarantees to Denmark as regards Salmonella at import of broiler meat similar to the existing ones at import to Sweden and Finland. The prevalence of Salmonella in domestically produced broiler meat is very low in these countries and strict control measures apply. Therefore special guarantees are requested at import, which consist of testing for Salmonella spp. (with favourable result) of all consignments.

The draft Regulation establishes maximum levels in glycidyl esters in vegetable oils and foods for infants and young children.

The text takes away the authorisation of use of nine sweeteners (E 950 Acesulfame K, E 951 Aspartame, E952 Cyclamic acid and its Na and Ca salts, E 954 Saccharin and its Na, K and Ca salts, E 955 Sucralose, E 959 Neohesperidine DC, E 961 Neotame, E 962 Salt of aspartame-acesulfame and E 969 Advantame) in "fine bakery products for special nutritional uses" (food category 07.2 fine bakery wares of Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 on food additives). In order to allow economic operators to adapt to the new rules, it is appropriate to provide for a transitional period during which fine bakery products for special nutritional uses containing any of those sweeteners may continue to be marketed.

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/159 (14 March 2016) amended G/SPS/N/EU/159/Add.1 (6 September 2017) is further amended by this draft Commission Regulation on the use of bisphenol A in varnishes and coatings intended to come into contact with food and amending Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 as regards the use of that substance in plastic food contact materials. The main change concerns the extension of the prohibition specifically for plastic sippy cups for infants and young children rather than specific food groups. For varnishes and coatings the restriction for infants and young children remains the same. The other few changes are relatively minor (including line 3 of annex I is deleted).

The draft Regulation and its annexes set proposed maximum residue levels for chlorpyrifos, chlorpyrifos-methyl and triclopyr in or on certain products in Annex II and III to Regulation (EC) No 396/2005. MRLs for these substances in certain commodities are changed: either increased, lowered, or deleted.  Higher MRLs are set to accommodate new uses in the European Union and in third countries which export those commodities to the European Union. Lower MRLs are set after updating the limit of determination and/or deleting old uses which are not authorized any more in the European Union or for which there is not enough data for an MRL to be set.

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/159 (14 March 2016) is now amended by the draft Commission Regulation (EU) on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in varnishes and coatings intended to come into contact with food and amending Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 as regards the use of that substance in plastic food contact materials.The update includes an additional restriction for BPA concerning migration from plastic and varnished and coated food contact materials specifically intended to come into contact with foods for infants and young children 0 – 3 years.http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3935_00_e.pdf http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3935_01_e.pdf

The proposed Commission Regulation would amend Commission Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 is a specific Regulation within the framework Regulation (EC) No 1935/2004. The latter sets out principles and procedures applicable to food contact materials. This amendment authorises 4 new substances and extends the authorised uses of a previously authorised substance for materials intended to be in contact with foods.

The draft Regulation establishes mitigation measures to be applied by food business operators to reduce the presence of acrylamide in food and establishes benchmark levels as performance indicators to be used to verify the effectiveness of the mitigation measures.

According to Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 on novel foods, the European Commission has to establish administrative and scientific requirements for novel food applications. This implementing act will indicate what type of information (e.g. application letter, technical dossier containing administrative and scientific data) is needed in the application. It will also contain the procedures for checking the validity of an application by the European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and will list the type of information to be included in the EFSA opinion.

According to Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 on novel foods, the European Commission has to specify the procedural steps of the consultation process established in Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 including deadlines and the means to make the status publicly available.Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 establishes that, where food business operators (FBOs) are unsure whether or not a food which they intend to place on the market within the European Union falls within the scope of this Regulation, FBOs shall consult the EU member State where they first intend to place the novel food on the market. FBOs shall provide the necessary information to that EU member State to enable the determination whether or not a food falls within the scope of this Regulation. In order to carry out such determination the EU member State may consult other member States and the European Commission.

According to Article 20 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283 on novel foods, the European Commission has to establish administrative and scientific requirements for traditional foods from third countries. This implementing act indicates what type of information (e.g. notification/application letter, technical dossier containing administrative and scientific data) is needed in the notification/application. It also contains the procedures for checking the validity of a notification/application by the European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the arrangements for the exchange of information with the EU member States and with EFSA and it lists the type of information to be included in the EFSA opinion.

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/196 (13 February 2017) is now adopted as Commission Implementing Directive (EU) 2017/1279 of 14 July 2017 amending Annexes I to V to Council Directive 2000/29/EC on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community [OJ L 184].NEW PROCEDURE:The European Commission invites non-EU trading countries to communicate prior to 1 January 2018, the date of the application of the above mentioned Directive, the following information:for the import requirements for the bacterial causative agent of the citrus canker disease, whether the country is free from the harmful organism or the pest free areas of the country recognized in accordance with the relevant International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures. In the case of the export of fruits subjected to a treatment, the details of the treatment applied need to be communicated and its efficacy documented (see the new point (16.2) and point (18.4) of Annex IV Part A Section I of Council Directive 2000/29/EC regarding the import requirements for Xanthomonas citricitri and Xanthomonas citri pv. aurantifolii)for the import requirements for Cercospora angolensis, whether the country is free from the harmful organism or the pest free areas of the country recognized in accordance with the relevant International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (see the new point (16.3) of Annex IV Part A Section I of Council Directive 2000/29/EC);for the import requirements for citrus black spot, whether the country is freefrom the harmful organism or the pest free areas of the country recognized in accordance with the relevant International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (see the new point (16.4) of Annex IV Part A Section I of Council Directive 2000/29/EC of Phyllosticta citricarpa)for the import requirements for false codling moth, the treatment applied to the fruits. In addition, the effectiveness of the mentioned treatment needs to be documented (see the new point (16.6) of Annex IV Part A Section I of Thaumatotibia leucotreta).The requested information should be sent to the plant health contact point of the European Commission, Directorate General for Health and Food Safety:SANTE-G1-PLANT-HEALTH@ec.europa.euIn case the information is not provided before 1 January 2018, the import into the EU territory of the following commodities will not be allowed: Fruits of CitrusFortunella Swingle, Poncirus Raf., Microcitrus Swingle, Naringi Adans., Swinglea Merr., and their hybrids originating in all non-EU countries; Fruits of Capsicum (L.), Punicagranatum originating in countries of the African continent, Cape Verde, Saint Helena, Madagascar, La Reunion, Mauritius and Israel; Plants of Microcitrus Swingle, Naringi Adans. and Swinglea Merr., other than fruits and seeds originating in all non-EU countries. http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3506_00_e.pdf http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3506_00_f.pdfhttp://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3506_00_s.pdf

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/176 (13 December 2016) is now adopted as Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1135 of 23 June 2017 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 dimethoate and omethoate in or on certain products (Text with EEA relevance) [OJ L 164, 27 June 2017, p. 28]. This Regulation shall apply from 17 January 2018. http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3274_00_e.pdf http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3274_00_f.pdfhttp://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3274_00_s.pdf

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/201 (6 March 2017) has been adopted as "Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1263 of 12 July 2017 updating the list of invasive alien species of Union concern established by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1141 pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council" [OJ L 182, 13 July 2017, p. 37]. The Regulation will enter into force on 2 August 2017. http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3273_00_e.pdfhttp://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3273_00_f.pdf http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3273_00_s.pdf

The Union list of flavourings and source materials is laid down in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1334/3008. It was established by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 872/2012 of 1 October 2012 adopting the list of flavouring substances notified in G/SPS/N/EU/13/Add.1 (12 October 2012) which is now amended by this Regulation. This addendum concerns the removal of the flavouring substance 4,5-epoxydec-2(trans)-enal (FL-no 16.071) from the European Union list of flavourings following the European Food Safety Authority opinion published on 31 May  2017 which concluded that this substance is genotoxic in vivo and therefore its use as a flavouring substance raises a safety concern.

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/174 (12 December 2016) is now adopted as Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1164 of 22 June 2017 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 acrinathrin, metalaxyl and thiabendazole in or on certain products (Text with EEA relevance) [OJ L 170, 1 July 2017, p. 3]. This Regulation shall apply from 21 January 2018. http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3152_00_e.pdfhttp://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3152_00_f.pdfhttp://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_3152_00_s.pdf

This Regulation reviews the list of imports of feed and food of non-animal origin which are subject to an increased level of official controls. The changes concern: (i) the listing of the following items: dried grapes from Iran and Turkey, groundnuts and derived products from Senegal, peppers (Capsicum spp.) from Sri Lanka and sesame seeds from Nigeria and Sudan; (ii) the de-listing of the following items: aubergines from Cambodia and enzymes from India; and (iii) the modification of the control frequency for the following items: dried apricots from Turkey, Brassica oleracea from China and peas from Kenya.

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/179 (10 January 2017) is now adopted by Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/644 of 5 April 2017 laying down methods of sampling and analysis for the control of levels of dioxins, dioxin-like PCBs and non-dioxin-like PCBs in certain foodstuffs and repealing Regulation (EU) No 589/2014 (Text with EEA relevance) [OJ L 92, 6 April 2017, p. 9]. The Regulation entered into force on 26 April 2017. http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_2897_00_e.pdfhttp://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_2897_00_f.pdfhttp://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_2897_00_s.pdf

The proposal notified in G/SPS/N/EU/178 (10 January 2017) is now adopted by Commission Regulation (EU) No 2017/771 of 3 May 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 152/2009 as regards the methods for the determination of the levels of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (Text with EEA relevance) [OJ L 115, 24 May 2017, p. 22]. The Regulation entered into force on 24 May 2017. http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_2951_00_e.pdfhttp://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_2951_00_f.pdfhttp://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/SPS/EEC/17_2951_00_s.pdf