The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety adopted the report by Pascal CANFIN (Renew, FR) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2017/625 as regards official controls on animals and products of animal origin exported from third countries to the Union to ensure compliance with the prohibition of certain uses of antimicrobials.
Members support the aim of the proposal to amend the regulation on official controls to cover verification of compliance with the rules on prudent use of antimicrobials is the only effective way of ensuring that the rules are complied with in relation to imports of animals and products of animal origin from third countries.
The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows:
Cross-border dimension of the antimicrobial resistance problem
Members proposed to underline in a recital that in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2019/6, a more prudent and responsible use of antimicrobials in animals is ensured, inter alia, by prohibiting the use of antimicrobials for growth promotion and yield increase and on the use of antimicrobials reserved for treatment of certain infections in humans.
The report suggested that the proposal should refer to recital 49 of Regulation (EU) 2019/6 which stresses the importance of taking into account the international dimension of the development of antimicrobial resistance by taking non-discriminatory and proportionate measures, while respecting Union obligations under international agreements.
Specific rules on official controls
Members considered that the possibility provided for in Article 18(7)(g) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 to derogate from the obligation to classify production and relaying areas should be extended to all echinoderms that are not filter-feeders, for example those belonging to class Echinoidea.
For this reason, it is also proposed to specify that the conditions for the classification and control of classified production and relaying areas to be defined by the Commission apply to live bivalve molluscs, echinoderms, tunicates and marine gastropods, with the exception of marine gastropods and echinoderms that are not filter-feeders.
The Regulation would apply from the date of its entry into force. However, point (1) of Article 1 would apply from 28 January 2022, the date on which the Regulation on veterinary medicinal products would start to apply.