The European Parliament adopted by 543 votes to 100
with 43 abstentions a resolution tabled by the Committee on the
Environment, Public Health and Food Safety on the draft Commission
implementing regulation amending Commission Implementing Regulation
(EU) 2016/6 as regards feed and food subjected to special
conditions governing the import of feed and food originating in or
consigned from Japan following the accident at the Fukushima
nuclear power station.
Implementing
Regulation (EU) 2016/6 currently requires that consignments of
a number of foodstuffs, including mushrooms, fish and fishery
products, rice and soybeans, originating in or consigned from any
part of Japan be accompanied by a valid declaration from the
Japanese authorities attesting that the products comply with the
maximum contamination limits in force in Japan. However, the draft
Commission implementing regulation (now only requires that a
limited list of food and feed from twelve prefectures, listed in
Annex II, be accompanied by such a declaration, and this draft
proposal also deletes a number of food and feed categories from
Annex II.
Parliament called on the Commission to withdraw its
draft implementing regulation and to submit a new draft to the
committee by the end of 2017 at the latest. It made a series of
observations:
On Annex II: amongst the
proposed amendments are the following:
- the draft proposal deletes from Annex II rice and
derived products from Fukushima prefecture. this means that there
will no longer be any requirement to sample and analyse those
products on entry into the Union nor any obligation on the Japanese
authorities to attest to their compliance with maximum radioactive
contamination levels. Members one of the rice-derived products
removed from Annex II is rice used in baby food and food for young
children;
- Annex II is also amended so as to now allow,
without controls, sampling or analysis, the import into the Union
of seven fish species (including Atlantic and Pacific bluefin tuna
and mackerel), as well as crustaceans and molluscs, which are
caught or harvested in the waters of Fukushima;
- seven fish species will also be removed from Annex II
for six other prefectures, namely Miyagi, Iwate, Gunma, Ibaraki,
Chiba and Tochigi;
- Annex II will no longer cover any products originating
from Akita prefecture.
There are no justifications given in the draft
proposal for these amendments.
Annex I:
- verification of compliance with the maximum limits for
food and feed categories in Annex I is not required under
Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/6 or the draft proposal for its
amendment. There is therefore no guarantee that those foods and
feedstuffs do not exceed the maximum limits for radioactive
contamination;
- since 1 April 2012 the maximum limits in force in
Japan, and hence those listed in Annex I, have not been revised
downwards, but Members felt they should be reduced in particular in
relation to foodstuffs for infants and babies.
Accordingly, Parliament considered that the draft
Commission implementing regulation exceeds the implementing
powers provided for in Regulation
(EC) No 178/2002.
When drafting its new proposal, the Commission should,
inter alia:
- ensure that all food and feed imported from Japan into
the Union, including the categories listed in Annex I, are subject
to controls and checks;
- revise downwards the maximum limits in Annex I;
and
- take into account the recent lifting of evacuation
orders in the affected prefectures and ensure that there is no
corresponding negative impact on the levels of radioactive
contamination of food and feed imported into the Union;
Pending the drafting of its new proposal, the
Commission was asked to:
- put in place emergency measures, as required under
Regulation (EC) No 178/2002;
- make publicly available, including on the Unions
Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, the analysis on which it
based its draft proposal.