THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2003 on additives for use in animal nutrition(1), and in particular Article 10(5) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 provides for the authorisation of additives for use in animal nutrition and for the grounds and procedures for granting such authorisation. Article 10 of that Regulation provides for the re-evaluation of additives authorised pursuant to Council Directive 70/524/EEC(2).
(2) The feed additives set out in the Annex were authorised without a time limit by Directive 70/524/EEC. Those feed additives were subsequently entered in the Community Register of Feed Additives as existing products, in accordance with Article 10(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003.
(3) As regards the use of the feed additives specified in Part A of the Annex as flavouring and appetising substances, no applications for authorisation in accordance with Article 10(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 were submitted before the deadline provided for in that provision. As regards the use of the feed additives specified in Part B of the Annex as flavouring and appetising substances, no applications were submitted before that deadline for some of the animal species or categories of animal species for which the feed additives concerned had been authorised pursuant to Directive 70/524/EEC. However, as regards the use of saccharin and calcium saccharin specified in Part B of the Annex as flavouring and appetising substances, no applications were submitted before that deadline for the only animal category for which those feed additives had been authorised pursuant to Directive 70/524/EEC.
(4) For transparency purposes, feed additives for which no applications for authorisation were submitted within the period specified in Article 10(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003 were listed in a separate part of the Community Register of Feed Additives.
(5) Those feed additives should therefore be withdrawn from the market as far as their use as flavouring and appetising substances is concerned, except for animal species and categories of animal species for which applications for authorisation have been submitted. This measure does not interfere with the use of some of the abovementioned additives according to other animal species or categories of animal species or to other functional groups for which they may be allowed.
(6) It is appropriate to allow a transitional period for interested parties within which existing stocks of the additives concerned, premixtures, compound feed and feed materials which have been produced with those additives may be used up, taking account of the shelf-life of certain feed containing the additives in question.
(7) The withdrawal from the market of the products listed in the Annex is without prejudice to the granting of an authorisation concerning them or to the adoption of a measure concerning their status in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1831/2003.
(8) The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: