Commission Decision of 4 October 2007 on emergency measures applying to fishery products imported from Albania and intended for human consumption (notified under document number C(2007) 4482) (Text with EEA relevance) (2007/642/EC) in Scotland

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety^f1, and in particular Article 53(1)(b) thereof,

Whereas:

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, the necessary measures must be adopted where it is evident that food imported from a third country is likely to constitute a serious risk to human health, animal health or the environment and that such risk cannot be contained satisfactorily by means of measures taken by the Member State(s) concerned.

Under Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin^f2, food business operators must ensure that the limits with regard to histamine in fishery products are not exceeded. Those limits, together with the sampling and analytical methods, were established by Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 of 15 November 2005 on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs^f3.

A recent Community inspection in Albania has revealed a limited capacity of the Albanian authorities to carry out the necessary checks, in particular to detect histamine in fish and fishery products.

Excessive levels of histamine in fishery products constitute a serious risk for human health.

It is appropriate to adopt at Community level measures applicable to imports of fishery products which might be contaminated to ensure effective and uniform protection in all the Member States.

Imports into the Community of fishery products from fish species associated with a high amount of histamine, should be authorised only if it can be shown that they have been subjected to a systematic check at origin to verify that their histamine levels do not exceed the limits set by Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005.

However, it is appropriate to temporarily authorise, the import of consignments that are not accompanied by the results of checks at origin, provided that Member States ensure that those consignments undergo appropriate checks on arrival at the Community border to verify that their histamine levels do not exceed the limits set by Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005. This temporary authorisation should be limited to the time that would allow the Albanian authorities to build their own check capacity.

Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 sets up the rapid alert system for food and feed, which should be used to implement the mutual information requirement provided for in Article 22(2) of Council Directive 97/78/EC^f4. In addition, the Member States should keep the Commission informed through periodical reports of all analytical results of official controls carried out in respect of consignments of fishery products from Albania.

This Decision should be reviewed in the light of the guarantees offered by Albania and on the basis of the results of the tests carried out by Member States.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: