ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with EU Regulations on animal health and welfare, plant health, organic foods and the country of origin or place of provenance of foods. In 2007 the EU adopted its “animal health strategy” focused on preventive measures, disease surveillance, controls and research to reduce the incidence of potentially devastating animal diseases and minimize the impact of outbreaks.
Regulation (EU) 2016/429 on animal diseases (“Animal Health Law”) supports the EU livestock sector in its quest for competitiveness and safety through many specific tools. An important step in the domain of animal welfare has been the Council Directive 98/58/EC on the protection of animals kept for farming purposes, which gave general rules for the protection of animals of all species kept for the production of food. The European Union Council Directive 1999/74/EC has stated that conventional battery cages for laying hens are now banned across the Union. In 2009 animals were recognized as sentient beings.
The Directive 2000/29/EC for almost two decades has served as a reference framework for the surveillance and the management of phytosanitary concerns throughout the EU. In October 2016, Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 on protective measures against plant pests (“Plant Health Law”) introduced new rules aiming at modernizing the plant health regime, enhancing more effective measures for the protection of the Union’s territory and its plants. From 14 December 2019, all plants (including living parts of plants) need to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate to enter into the EU, unless (as is the case for pineapples, coconuts, durians, bananas and dates) they are exempted. The Commission Implementing Regulation 2018/2019 also establishes the list of high-risk plants, the introduction of which into the EU territory is provisionally prohibited from 14 December 2019 until a full risk assessment has been carried out. The EUROPHYT network is a web-based network and database that connects plant health authorities of the EU Member States and Switzerland, the European Food Safety Authority and the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety of the European Commission.
Organic food, produced by methods that comply with the standards of organic farming, is regulated by Regulation (EU) 2018/848 that provides complex rules for dealing with traces of agrochemicals in organic products. Organic farmers are charged with drawing up and maintaining “precautionary measures” against pollution from conventional agriculture. By 31 December 2024, at the latest, the Commission will submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the presence of products and substances not authorized for use in organic production and on the evaluation of existing national rules.
The EU has established mandatory origin information provisions for certain products under product-specific rules, e.g. for beef and beef products, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables, honey and olive oil. Otherwise, the indication of the country of origin or place of provenance is mandatory where failure to indicate this might mislead the consumer as to the true country of origin or place of provenance of the food. Foods which do not have product-specific provisions regarding the country of origin or place of provenance indication will be subject to the EU’s non-preferential rules of origin, i.e. the customs legislations.
