EP adopts Commission proposal on a comprehensive framework for combating TSEs
The European Parliament has approved the European Commission's latest proposal for the comprehensive regulation on the prevention, control and eradication of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE). 'The proposed legislation will put the measures taken by the Commission over the past ten years to protect human and animal health from the risk of BSE on a solid legal basis,' says the Commission. 'It brings all existing BSE measures as adopted over the years through more than 60 Commission decisions into a single, comprehensive framework consolidating and updating them in view of scientific advice and international standards.' The proposals also introduce a number of new instruments to manage the risk of BSE and other similar diseases, such as scrapie. Health and consumer protection commissioner David Byrne was delighted at the news: 'The European Commission has been forced to work with safeguard measures for far too long,' he said. ' This legislation puts protective measures against BSE and other such types of diseases on the proper legal and institutional footing. It gives us the instruments we need for comprehensive risk management protecting both animal and human health. And it brings coherence between the rules inside the EU and those applicable to our trade with third countries - both imports and exports.' New elements of the proposal include: - the procedure and criteria for classification of countries according to their BSE status based on the criteria of international standards; - fully harmonised measures for the eradication of BSE in cattle, sheep and goats, creation of the legal base for eradication of scrapie or any other TSE currently subject to national legislation; - rules for export of bovine animals and products derived therefrom similar to those that currently apply internally; - an extension of BSE-related controls to bovine animals and products derived therefrom in view of the BSE status; - obligations on Member States to set up contingency plans for eradication and control of TSEs. The EP decision frees the way for the final resolution to be adopted by the Council in time for entry into force on 1 July this year, making it the first major veterinary proposal on public health to be adopted under the co-decision procedure between the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.