Article 4 Substance-specific risk assessment

A request shall be addressed to F1the Food Standards Agency for a substance-specific risk assessment as to whether reference points for action are adequate to protect human health, in particular for substances:

The F2Secretary of State shall, where appropriate, submit a request to F3the Food Standards Agency for a substance-specific risk assessment as to whether a reference point for action is adequate to protect human health, where application of the method laid down in Article 3(4) indicates that the toxicological screening value, divided by the relevant food intake, is lower than the analytical capability of the official control laboratories, and that there is little or no possibility of significant improvement in the analytical capability within a short to medium time frame.

Where the substance specific risk assessment is inconclusive, due to uncertainties regarding certain aspects of the toxicological or exposure assessment, and no guarantees are available on whether the lowest analytically achievable concentration is sufficiently safe for consumers, the F4approved laboratories shall endeavour to improve the sensitivity of analytical methods in order to be able to enforce lower concentrations and the reference points for action shall be set at levels which are low enough to stimulate improvement of the lowest achievable levels.

In paragraph 3, “approved laboratory” has the meaning given in—