Brussels, 15/04/2004 (Agence Europe) - The ten new Member States joining the EU on 1 May are on track to meet European food safety standards according to David Byrne, Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner. "Major progress has been made as a result of strong collaboration between the European Commission and the competent authorities of the new Member States". Some food establishments (processing plants, dairies and abattoirs) will need some transitional time to finish upgrading their standards. During that time, their products will only be sold on the domestic markets of the new Member States concerned. The EU-15 agreed today to the final list of establishments which will benefit from such an upgrading period.
The new Member States' Accession Treaty, signed in April 2003, granted transition periods of up to three years to a number of food processing establishments in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia that were seen as unlikely to meet EU standards by 1 May 2004. The proposals approved by the Standing Committee on the Food Chain representing the Member States today allow a further group of establishments in Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia to have transition periods from of from three months to one year to allow the completion of upgrading work. This new group of establishments all comply with EU hygiene rules but need further time to fully comply with other relevant EU requirements. The Member States also approved proposals to end the transitional arrangements for a number of Latvian, Lithuanian, Hungarian and Polish establishments named in the Accession Treaty. The establishments removed from the lists have either been brought up to EU standards ahead of time of have been closed. In all, 1006 food processing establishments in the new Member States have been granted transitional periods, roughly representing 8% of the total number of 12,000 food processing establishments in these countries. Those establishments granted transition periods will be allowed to continue selling food in their home Member State. However, it will not be eligible to be sold in other Member States and will be labelled to prevent this. The message is clear "if you do not conform to legislation, you will not be able to sell" said Jaana Huber-Kallio of DG Health and Consumer Protection to press on Thursday.
Maintaining high standards of food safety and animal health in the EU requires efficient controls at the EU's external borders. Food and animals can only be imported into the EU at designated border inspection posts (BIPs) that have been approved by the European Commission. In March this year, the Commission approved 22 BIPs in the New Member States as meeting EU standards. The Commission intends to approve a further list of BIPs in time for accession bringing the total number of new BIPs to 37. Some BIPs in Italy, Austria and Germany will cease their operations.