PURPOSE: to amend the European Parliament and Council Regulation on nutrition and health claims made on foods, in order to align it with the new Council Decision 2006/512/EC amending Decision 1999/468/EC laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (comitology).
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
CONTENT: Decision 1999/468/EC has been amended by Decision 2006/512/EC, which introduced a regulatory procedure with scrutiny (see CNS/2002/0298) to be used for the adoption of implementing measures of general scope which seek to amend non-essential elements of a basic instrument adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251 of the Treaty, including by deleting some of those elements or by supplementing the instrument by the addition of new non-essential elements.
The regulatory procedure with scrutiny should therefore be followed for measures of general scope designed to amend non-essential elements of this Regulation.
The present proposal aims to introduce in the Regulation a reference to the new regulatory procedure with scrutiny procedure in all cases where the Commission is empowered to adopt quasi-legislative measures within the meaning of Article 2 of Decision 1999/468/EC laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred to the Commission, as amended by Decision 2006/512/EC.
Due to the urgency of the matter it will be necessary that the adoption of this proposal by the Parliament and Council take place by December 2006.