. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/EEC/133/Rev.1
14 February 2002
(02-0755)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION
Revision
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
If applicable, name of local government involved:           
2. Agency responsible: European Commission, Directorate-General for Health and Consumer
Protection
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where
applicable) .  Live bovine animals (CN 0102);  bovine embryos and ova; fresh bovine meat
(CN 0201, CN 0202);  fresh ovine and caprine meat (CN 0204);  minced meat of bovine,
ovine and caprine origin (CN 020230, 02042300, 020443, 020450 or in preparations under
CN position 1606);  raw material for the manuf acture of animal feedingstuffs (CN 0210.90);
bones (CN 05606) and bone products;  bovine cas ings (CN 05040000) and products that may
contain them;  rendered fats of bovine, ovine and caprine origin (CN 1502, 506 1518);  meat
preparations – including meat extracts - of bovine, ovine and caprine origin (CN 1601 and
1602), including food preparati on containing meat (CN position 1902);  gravies ("greaves")
for human consumption of bovine, ovine a nd caprine origin (CN 2301.00.00);  pet-food (CN
2309);  processed animal protein circula ting under CN 02109090 and 2301) and gelatine (CN
3503)  Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:
European Community (EC) Member States and third countries trading with the EC.
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Commission Regulation amending
Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 of the European Parliament and the Council as regards
specified risk material and epidemio-surveillance for transmissible spongiform
encephalopathies and amending Regulation (EC) No 1326/2001 as regards animal feedingand the placing on the market of ovine and caprine animals and products thereof.
5. Description of content:  The regulatory proposal notified hereby amends Regulation
999/2001 laying down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of certain
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (notified in G/SPS/N/EEC/72, 16 April 1999),
as last amended by Regulation No 1326/2001 (G/SPS/N/EEC/133, 3 August 2001).  Major
changes are:  ( 1) The Specified Risk Material (SRM) list is enlarged to include mesenteric
tissue, from bovine animals of all ages ,  (2) Pending the exporting country classification -by
the EC Scientific Steering Committee - according to its Geographical BSE Risk (GBR), the
import certificate should contain an additional health declaration stating that either:
• the rules concerning the absence of SRM and mechanically recovered meat and
stunning/slaughter methods are complied with ;  or
• the products are derived from animals born, continuously reared and slaughtered in
countries where the presence of BSE is highly unlikely,  [i.e. countries classified GBRG/SPS/N/EEC/133/Rev.1
Page 2
Risk-Level I.]
6. Objective and rationale: [  X ] food safety,  [  X ] animal health,  [   ] plant protection,
[    ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [     ] protect territory from
other damage from pests
7. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [   ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:  This regulation conforms with the guidelines
set out in Chapter 3.2.13 of the Internationa l Animal Health Code (IAHC) established by
the Office Internationale des Epizooties  (OIE).  The measures are transitional, pending a
classification of countries that will follow the IAHC guidelines.  The measures exceed the
IAHC on (1) tallow, (2) list of SRM, (3) mechanically recovered meat, and (4)
stunning/slaughter methods and are based on the opinions of the EU Scientific Steering
Committee for GBR classification of countries, SRM list, the safety of tallow, mechanically
recovered meat and stunning/slaughter methods (see reference in paragraph 12).
8. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available: Document
SANCO/4372/2001 Rev.9, (Available in all official languages of the EC).
9. Proposed date of adoption by the European Parliament and the Council:
February 2002
10. Proposed date of entry into force:  New provisions as regards the certification
requirements apply from 1 March 2002 and the provisions as regards the supplementation ofthe SRM list apply from 1 April 2002.
11. Final date for comments:  Comments are welcome at any time.
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [     ] National notification
authority, [  X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if
available) of other body:           
12. Texts available from: [     ] National notification authority, [  X ] EC enquiry point or
address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:
The Official Journal is available at:  http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/oj/index.html .
The SSC Opinions for Geographic BSE Risk classification of countries, SRM list, the safety
of tallow, mechanically recovered meat and stunning/slaughter methods can be downloaded
from http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sc/ssc/outcome_en.html .