The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and
Food Safety adopted the report by Giovanni LA VIA (EPP, IT) on the
proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the
Council on the approximation of the laws of the Member States
relating to caseins and caseinates intended for human consumption
and repealing Council Directive 83/417/EEC.
The committee recommended that the European
Parliament’s position adopted at first reading following the
ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission
proposal. The amendments seek in particular to:
- recall that under Regulation No 1169/20116 of the
European Parliament and of the Council, sufficient information is
to be provided in business to business relations in order to ensure
the presence and accuracy of food information for the final
consumer;
- update the definition of ‘caseine’, a
technical update that will bring the legislation in line with Codex
Standard N290 for edible casein by using the same definitions
(International food standards as defined by the FAO and
WHO);
- propose that the power to adopt delegated acts in
order to adapt the Annexes to international standards and technical
progress should not be conferred on the Commission for an unlimited
period of time, but rather for 5 years. In order for
the co-legislators to decide whether to extend the delegation of
powers, the Commission shall draw up a report in this regard at the
latest 9 months before the end of the 5-year period;
- propose to set an ambitious yet realistic date for
the implementation of this Directive in the Member States (six
months after the entry into force of this Directive instead of 31
March).
To conclude, Members suggested a technical amendment
in order to ensure that the Directive is perfectly aligned to the
Codex Alimentarius as well as an amendment aiming to calculate the
milk protein content on the basis of the absolute weight of the
product (instead of on the basis of the dried extract).