The committee adopted the report by Marit PAULSEN (ELDR, S) amending the Council's common position under the codecision procedure (2nd reading). It reinstated a number of amendments from 1st reading on blood, the marking of imported raw materials intended for use as pet food, the separation of premises for the processing of animal by-products and the link between the proposed regulation and the temporary ban on animal protein in animal feed.
In addition, the committee modified the article providing for an outright ban on the use of catering waste in animal feed for farm animals. It called on the Commission to submit a legislative proposal by 30 June 2002 making it compulsory to provide proof of the safe disposal of catering waste and banning its use as animal feed unless the Member State authorities ensured that it had been properly sterilised so as to kill the swine fever and foot-and-mouth viruses, that this treatment was carried out only in officially registered units and that a compulsory system for registering catering waste was in force. The committee argued that a conditional ban, providing for registered and controlled disposal and treatment of catering waste, would be more effective than a general ban which would be difficult to monitor.
Other amendments included a call for Member States to submit a report on 'uniform implementation' of the directive before 1 February 2003 so that a decision could then be taken at Community level concerning the renewed use of meat-and-bone meal in feed for livestock other than ruminants. Lastly, the committee wanted to see a transition period of three years, arguing that the regulation would generate additional quantities of by-products and that it was necessary to allow sufficient time for the creation of new disposal capacity. �