Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European Union, in the EEA Joint Committee concerning an amendment to Annex II (Technical regulations, standards, testing and certification) of the EEA Agreement (Novel foods)

In order to ensure the requisite legal security and homogeneity of the Internal Market, the EEA Joint Committee is to integrate all the relevant EU legislation into the EEA Agreement as soon as possible after its adoption.

The draft Decision of the EEA Joint Committee (annexed to the proposed Council Decision) aims to amend Annex II to the EEA Agreement in order to incorporate the following in the EEA Agreement:
(1) Regulation (EC) No 258/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 1997 concerning novel foods and novel food ingredients.
(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1852/2001 of 20 September 2001 laying down detailed rules for making certain information available to the public and for the protection of information submitted pursuant to European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 258/97.
(3) Commission Recommendation 97/618/EC of 29 July 1997 concerning the scientific aspects and the presentation of information necessary to support applications for the placing on the market of novel foods and novel food ingredients and the preparation of initial assessment reports under Regulation (EC) No 258/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
(4) Article 38 of Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2003 on genetically modified food and feed amends Regulation (EC) No 258/97.

The EEA EFTA side is proposing notably an adaptation to Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 258/97. The proposed text states that when the Commission takes authorization decisions under that Article, the EFTA States will simultaneously and within 30 days take corresponding decisions. Annex II to the EEA agreement should therefore be amended accordingly.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)167: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:167:FIN

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