AGRICULTURE: MEPS IN LEGAL WRANGLE OVER ANIMAL FEED ADDITIVES.

• Position: Brief Article

The European Commissioner for Consumer Protection, David Byrne, believes the aim of the Parliamentary amendments is fairly limited and says the Commission is not prepared to accept the changes. The proposal's sole aim is to harmonise authorisation procedures for substances permitted prior to 1988 and after 1988 as reflected in Directive 70/527/EEC. The Commission feels a change in the legal basis is out of the question as this concerns smoothing out the inconsistencies in the current Directive by proposing technical adaptations to the legislation on rules for authorising high-tech additive intended for animal feed (see inset).--Directive 70/527/EEC currently proposes different treatments for high-tech additives as regards replacing the present authorisations in the light of the authorisation dates. High-tech additives authorised prior to December 31, 1987 have to undergo a review procedure, whereas this is not the case for substances allowed after that date. However, apart from this distinction, even though there are plans for post-December 31, 1987 authorisations to be replaced by October 1, 1999, there is no legal bases for replacing the ones granted before January 1, 1988. Article 9g of the proposal specifies no replacement until the end of the review in 2003. If this legal situation were to be maintained, copies of additives could still be available after October 1, 1999, even though they have been assessed in the light of standards less stringent than those authorised more recently (after December 31, 1987). Hence the Commission sought to improve this situation by planning to harmonise the authorisation procedures for substances prior to 1988 and after 1988.--Public health debate.The Parliament took the opportunity to initiate a debate on antibiotics, growth-promoting...