Legislation formalising RASFF procedure to come into force

21-Jan-2011 - Last updated on 21-Jan-2011 at 13:45 GMT

A regulation formally laying down the implementation measures for the European Commission’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) will come into force at the end of this month.

The new legislation comes almost nine years after the original measure setting up the current RASFF procedure was passed in February 2002 under Regulation (EC) 178/2002.

The RASFF is a tool for exchanging information between food and feed control authorities in EU member states in cases where a risk to human health has been identified and measures have been taken, such as withholding, recalling, seizing or rejecting products.

Article 51 of the 2002 regulation set out provisions for implementation measures to detail procedures relating to how initial notifications and supplementary information should be made as well duties of member states and exchanging information with countries outside EU borders – so-called ‘third countries’.

Legal battle

But while there has been harmonisation among member state over these practices its inception, their formal adoption under the EU legislative umbrella was delayed by almost a decade – principally as a result of a court case with a UK cheese maker, a Commission official told FoodProductionDaily.com.

The legal battle with Bowland Dairy Products came about after the company, which makes fresh cheese, including curd cheese, took action against the EC following a RASFF notification about its products in 2006.

The firm said the Commission had made an error when it failed to circulate a subsequent notification from the UK Food Standards Agency that the issue had been resolved following an audit of its premises in the north west of England.

The case was eventually resolved in the Commission’s favour in October 2009 – which paved the way for the formal introduction of the implementation measures this month.

Even if new regulation EC 16/2011, giving more specific details on procedures is about to be enacted, the RASFF system has still had a full legal basis since 2002. The latest move merely formalises something that has been done for years, an official from the Commission added.

Extra guidelines, which will include all templates and other procedures, to complement the regulation will be issued later this year.

To read Regulation (EC) 16/2011 click HERE