The European Commission is modernising legislation around food, feed, live animals, and plants – your views are welcomed.

The European Commission has published a package of proposals to revise the current legislation governing health controls in the food and agriculture industries. The proposed plans will potentially affect all those involved in the production, manufacture, supply and regulation of food, feed, live animals, plants and plant reproductive material such as seeds.

The Commission’s aim is to develop a modernised legal framework for a more competitive EU. The proposals should simplify the existing regime by consolidating approximately 70 current pieces of EU legislation.

It will aim to create a more consistent approach to official controls, such as inspection and approvals, throughout the food and agriculture sectors. The changes are also intended to support more sustainable and effective control systems across European Union (EU) Member States.

The five elements of the package

1. The animal health regulation, which aims to protect and raise the health status and condition of animals in the EU, in particular food-producing animals, whilst ensuring intra-EU trade and imports & exports of animals and animal products in accordance with the appropriate health standards and international obligations.

2. The plant health regime, whose objective is to protect EU agriculture and forestry by preventing the entry and spread of foreign plant pests.

3. The marketing of planting material such as seeds of agricultural, vegetable, forest, fruit and ornamental species and vines, which ensures the quality and productivity of this material given that it is the first link in the food chain and in forestry.

4. A legislative framework for the organisation of official controls concerning food and feed safety, animal health and welfare, plant health and plant reproductive material, established to ensure that the sector specific rules are enforced by the Member States across the EU in a harmonised manner.

5. The fifth proposal – modernising the financial framework for the 4 preceding policy areas in order to support their goals is expected to be published by the Commission (6th June). This proposal is linked to the multi-annual financial framework and proposes replacing the current multiple legal bases for co-financing with a simple, clear and modern legal framework which optimises the implementation and the financial management of EU funding in this field.