Brussels, 18/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - The Court of Justice has returned its verdict: Greece was indeed in breach of its obligations by failing to observe regulation 1774/2002 on sanitary rules applicable to animal by-products not destined for human consumption. In this ruling (C-248/08), which was published on Thursday 17 December, the Court agreed with the European Commission, which has stated since 2004 that: - the disposal of animal by-products in Greece is carried out " using method is not authorised by the regulation" (these products are placed in landfill with no prior processing, sometimes with no official controls); - there is no guarantee that the practices applied in Greece for the disposal of animal by-products "offer the level of protection laid down by the regulation for human and animal health").
The Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) of the Directorate General for Health and Consumers of the Commission undertook five special missions to Greece between the years 2004 and 2007. "Major deficiencies" were observed regarding: - the structure applied to ensure the safety of the management of animal by-products; - official controls; - the functioning of most of the factories in the absence of approvals granted; - the incineration of specific-risk materials. As the responses provided by the Greek authorities to the letters of formal notice were not considered to be satisfactory, the Commission sent the Hellenic Republic a reasoned opinion on 10 April 2006, followed by an additional reasoned opinion on 19 July 2007, to which this Member State replied on 3 August 2006 and 19 September 2007 respectively. Taking the view that, despite the efforts made by the competent authorities, the State had not brought an end to this dereliction of its duties, the Commission decided to bring the matter before the Court of Justice. (L.C./trans.fl)