Introductory text

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to 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^f1 and in particular the second paragraph of Article 9 thereof,

Whereas:

Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 lays down specific rules on the hygiene of food of animal origin for food business operators. Those rules include hygiene requirements for raw milk and dairy products.

Commission Decision 2009/861/EC^f2 provides for certain derogations from the requirements set out in subchapters II and III of Chapter I of Section IX of Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 for the milk processing establishments in Bulgaria listed in that Decision. That Decision applies until 31 December 2015.

Accordingly, certain milk processing establishments listed in Annex I to Decision 2009/861/EC may, by way of derogation from the relevant provisions of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004, process compliant and non-compliant milk provided that the processing of compliant and non-compliant milk is carried out on separate production lines. In addition, certain milk processing establishments listed in Annex II to that Decision may process non-compliant milk without separate production lines.

Bulgaria sent to the Commission a revised and updated list of those milk processing establishments on 28 April 2014, 18 August 2014 and on 2 December 2014.

In that list, the establishment listed at No 4 (BG 1212001 ‘S i S — 7’ EOOD) of the table set out in Annex I to Decision 2009/861/EC has been deleted as it ceased its activities.

In addition, certain establishments currently listed in Annex II to Decision 2009/861/EC have been deleted in that revised and updated list as they are now authorised to process only compliant milk to be placed on the intra-Union market. Those establishments are listed in the table in Annex II to Decision 2009/861/EC at No 3 (0912016 OOD ‘Persenski’), No 8 (1612064 OOD ‘Ikay’), No 11 (2512021 ‘Keya-Komers-03’ EOOD) No 22 (BG 1612051 ET ‘Radev-Radko Radev’), No 37 (1512010 ET ‘Militsa Lazarova-90’), No 50 (BG 1112016 Mandra ‘IPZHZ’) No 51 (BG 1712042 ET ‘Madar’) No 54 (1312005 ‘Ravnogor’ OOD) No 63 (BG 2612034 ET ‘Eliksir-Petko Petev’) No 75 (2312033 ‘Balkan spetsial’ OOD) and No 79 (2612015 ET ‘Detelina 39’).

Moreover, in that list, the establishments listed at No 7 (1612049 ‘Alpina-Milk’ EOOD), No 21 (BG 1612028 ET ‘Slavka Todorova’), No 23 (BG 1612066 ‘Lakti ko’ OOD) and No 71 (2012032 ‘Kiveks’ OOD) of the table set out in Annex II to Decision 2009/861/EC have been deleted, as they ceased their activities.

Decision 2009/861/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: