Proposal for a Council Regulation laying down maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination of food and feed following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological emergency

Council Directive 96/29/Euratom lays down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiation.

Following the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power-station on 26 April 1986, considerable quantities of radioactive materials were released into the atmosphere, contaminating foodstuffs and feedingstuffs in several European countries to levels significant from the health point of view. Measures were adopted to ensure that certain agricultural products are only introduced into the Union according to the common arrangements which safeguard the health of the population while maintaining the unified nature of the market and avoiding deflections of trade.

Council Regulation (Euratom) No 3954/87 lays down maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination to be applied following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological emergency which is likely to lead or has led to significant radioactive contamination of food and feed. Those maximum permitted levels are still in line with the latest scientific advice as presently available internationally.

There is a need to set up a system allowing the European Atomic Energy Community, following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological emergency which is likely to lead or has led to a significant radioactive contamination of food and feed, to establish maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination in order to protect the population.

This Regulation lays down the maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination of food (as set out in Annex I), the maximum permitted levels of minor food (as set out in Annex II), and the maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination of feed (as set out in Annex III), which may be placed on the market following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological emergency which is likely to lead to or has led to significant radioactive contamination of food and feed, and the procedures to render these maximum permitted levels applicable.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)943: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:943:FIN

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