Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

CHAPTER IV GENERAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 17 Community Register of Feed Additives

1. The Commission shall establish and keep up to date a Community Register of Feed Additives.

2. The Register shall be made available to the public.

Article 18 Confidentiality

1. The applicant may indicate which information submitted under this Regulation he wishes to be treated as confidential on the ground that its disclosure might significantly harm his competitive position. Verifiable reasons must be given in such cases.

2. The Commission shall determine, after consultation with the applicant, which information other than that specified in paragraph 3 should be kept confidential and shall inform the applicant of its decision.

3. The following information shall not be considered confidential:

(a) name and composition of the feed additive and, where appropriate, indication of the production strain;

(b) physico-chemical and biological characteristics of the feed additive;

(c) the conclusions of the study results on effects of the feed additive on human and animal health and on the environment;

(d) the conclusions of the study results on effects of the feed additive on the characteristics of animal products and its nutritional properties;

(e) methods for detection and identification of the feed additive and, where applicable, monitoring requirements and a summary of the results of the monitoring.

4. Notwithstanding paragraph 2, the Authority shall, on request, supply the Commission and Member States with all information in its possession, including any identified as confidential pursuant to paragraph 2.

5. The Authority shall apply the principles of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents(1) when handling applications for access to documents held by the Authority.

6. The Member States, the Commission and the Authority shall keep confidential all the information identified as confidential under paragraph 2 except where it is appropriate for such information to be made public in order to protect human health, animal health or the environment. Member States shall handle applications for access to documents received under this Regulation in accordance with Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.

7. If an applicant withdraws or has withdrawn an application, the Member States, the Commission and the Authority shall respect the confidentiality of commercial and industrial information, including research and development information, as well as information on which the Commission and the applicant disagree as to its confidentiality.

Article 19 Administrative review

Any decision taken under, or failure to exercise, the powers vested in the Authority by this Regulation may be reviewed by the Commission on its own initiative or in response to a request from a Member State or from any person directly and individually concerned.

For that purpose, a request shall be submitted to the Commission within two months after the day on which the party concerned became aware of the act or omission in question.

The Commission shall take a decision within two months requiring, if appropriate, the Authority to withdraw its decision or to remedy its failure to act within a set time limit.

Article 20 Data protection

1. The scientific data and other information in the application dossier required under Article 7 may not be used for the benefit of another applicant for a period of 10 years from the date of authorisation, unless the other applicant has agreed with the previous applicant that such data and information may be used.

2. In order to stimulate efforts to obtain authorisations for minor species for additives whose use is authorised for other species, the 10-year data protection period shall be extended by one year for each minor species for which a use extension authorisation is granted.

3. The applicant and the previous applicant shall take all necessary steps to reach agreement on sharing the use of information, in order not to repeat toxicological tests on vertebrates. If, however, no such agreement is reached on sharing the information, the Commission may decide to disclose information necessary to avoid repeating toxicological tests on vertebrates, while ensuring a reasonable balance between the interests of the parties concerned.

4. On the expiry of the 10-year period, the findings of all or part of the evaluation conducted on the basis of the scientific data and information contained in the application dossier may be used by the Authority for the benefit of another applicant.

Article 21 Reference laboratories

The Community Reference Laboratory and its duties and tasks shall be those laid down in the Annex II.

Applicants for the authorisation of additives shall contribute to supporting the cost of the tasks of the Community Reference Laboratory and the consortium of National Reference Laboratories mentioned in Annex II.

Detailed rules for implementing Annex II and any amendments to that Annex shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 22(2).

Article 22 Committee procedure

1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health established by Article 58 of Regulation EC No 178/2002 (hereinafter referred to as the Committee).

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.

3. The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Article 23 Repeals

1. Directive 70/524/EEC shall be repealed with effect from the date of application of this Regulation. However, Article 16 of Directive 70/524/EEC shall remain in force until Directive 79/373/EEC has been revised to include rules concerning the labelling of feedingstuffs incorporating additives.

2. Points 2.1, 3 and 4 of the Annex to Directive 82/471/EEC shall be deleted with effect from the date of application of this Regulation.

3. Directive 87/153/EEC shall be repealed with effect from the date of application of this Regulation. However, the Annex to that Directive shall remain in force until the implementing rules provided for in Article 7(4) of this Regulation are adopted.

4. References to Directive 70/524/EEC shall be construed as references to this Regulation.

Article 24 Penalties

Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of this Regulation and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

Member States shall notify those rules and measures to the Commission at the latest 12 months after the date of publication of this Regulation and shall notify it without delay of any subsequent amendment affecting them.

Article 25 Transitional measures

1. Applications submitted under Article 4 of Directive 70/524/EEC before the date of application of this Regulation shall be treated as applications under Article 7 of this Regulation where the initial comments provided for under Article 4(4) of Directive 70/524/EEC have not yet been forwarded to the Commission. Any Member State selected as rapporteur in respect of any such application shall immediately forward the dossier submitted in support of that application to the Commission. Notwithstanding Article 23(1), such applications shall continue to be treated in accordance with Article 4 of Directive 70/524/EEC where the initial comments provided for under Article 4(4) of Directive 70/524/EEC have already been forwarded to the Commission.

2. The labelling requirements laid down in Chapter III shall not apply to products which have been lawfully manufactured and labelled in the Community or which have been lawfully imported into the Community and put into circulation, before the date of application of this Regulation.

Article 26 Entry into force

1. This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

2. It shall apply from 12 months after the date of publication of this Regulation.

(1)

OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43.