Press Release: More veterinary and food safety decisions for after Enlargement agreed

Another series of Commission proposals on food safety and animal health issues, related to the upcoming accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU, were backed by the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health on 28 November 2006. Member State veterinary experts voted in favour of approving the Bulgarian and Romanian contingency plans for avian influenza, Newcastle disease, classical swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease. They also endorsed transitional measures for imports of animal origin which enter Bulgaria and Romania before 1 January 2007 and agreed to transitional measures for a considerable number of Bulgarian milk establishments. The Standing Committee already voted on a number of other veterinary and food safety issues related to Romanian and Bulgarian accession in early November (see IP/06/1537). Such Decisions are a normal part of the pre-accession preparations, and similar measures were agreed for the 10 new Member States prior to the last EU Enlargement in 2004.

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