. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/N/EEC/76
14 December 1999
(99-5428)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
NOTIFICATION OF EMERGENCY MEASURES
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
If applicable, name of local government involved:           
2. Agency responsible:  European Commission – Directorate for Public 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). Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or
practicable:  Kaolinitic clay
4. Title and number of pages of the notified document:  Commission Regulation (EC)
No. 2439/1999 of 17 November 1999 on the conditions for the authorization of additives
belonging to the group "binders, anti-caking agents and coagulants" in feedinstuffs
(5 pages)
5. Description of content:  Fixing of a maximum limit for dioxins (sum of PCDD and PCDF,
expressed in WHO Toxic Equivalents) in kaolinitic clay at 0.5 nanogram WHO-PCDD/F-TEQ/kg (upper bound determination limit).
6. Objective and rationale:  [  X ] food safety,  [     ] animal health,  [     ] plant protection,
[    ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [     ] protect territory from
other damage from pests
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified dioxins as a human
carcinogen.  It is therefore recommended by the World Health Organization that all
measures should be taken to reduce the ingestion of dioxins through food as much as
possible.  This can be achieved, inter alia , by ensuring that the presence of dioxins in
feedingstuffs is as low as possible and that highly contaminated additives or feed materialsare not used in feedingstuffs.
7. Nature of the urgent problem(s):  Kaolinitic clays originating from certain mines situated
in the European Union have been found to contain extremely high levels of dioxins.
According to currently available information, the contamination is most likely of geological
origin.
The Commission Regulation (EC) on the conditions for the authorizations of additives
belonging to the group "binders, anti-caking agents and coagulants" in feedingstuffsestablishes as an emergency measure a provisional maximum limit for kaolinitic clay of
0.5 ng WHO-PCDD/F-TEQ/kg, in order to safeguard animal and public health.  This
maximum limit shall be reviewed before 1 March 2000 in the light of a complete risk
assessment and/or the results of the monitoring programme.G/SPS/N/EEC/76
Page 2
Whereas the contamination of the kaolinitic clay could in fact concern also other clays
authorized for use as binders, anti-caking agents  and coagulants, it is appropriate to examine
in the frame of the monitoring programme the possible presence of dioxins in all authorized
clays.  The regulation stipulates that in the absence of any monitoring data, the analytical
limit of determination will apply as from 1 March 2000.
8. An international standard, guideline or recommendation does not exist [  X ].
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give its appropriate
reference and briefly identify deviations:           
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Commission
Regulation (EC) No 2439/1999 of 17 November 1999 on the conditions for the
authorization of additives belonging to the group "binders, anti-caking agents, and
coagulants" in feedingstuffs (Available in EC  languages (FR, EN, ES, DK, D, EL, IT, NL,
PT, SV, FI)).
10. Date of entry into force/period of application (as applicable):  Entry into force on
18 November 1999 (date of publication in the Official Journal of the European
Communities).  The measure applies immediately and will be reviewed before1 March 2000.
11. Texts available from/and 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:           