Key step towards publication of a meaningful, practical EU catalogue of feed materials
CEFS, COPA-COGECA and FEFAC have issued a joint statement welcoming the official approval on November 18, 2010 of the updated Catalogue of feed materials that they submitted to the Standing Committee of the Food Chain and Animal Health. These organizations represent 39 associations of the EU feed chain, including suppliers of feed materials, traders, compound feed manufacturers and farmers, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to AquaFeed.Com.
The former catalogue, republished in March 2010 as the 1st version, was outdated with no significant changes since 1996. In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 767/2009 on the placing on the market and use of feed, the EU legislator gave the representatives of the EU feed chain the mission to propose a more meaningful, up-to-date and comprehensive version of this Catalogue in order to raise market transparency on feed materials currently in circulation on the EU market for users. After 18 months of development, 39 EU organisations of the feed chain* joined efforts to deliver an inventory of more than 500 feed materials - the most frequent on the EU market - with clear descriptions so as to ensure full transparency for transactions between feed chain operators, as well as appropriate labeling for end users of feed materials, the EU citizens and the public authorities. This success story proves that organizations of the feed chain can work together in an efficient manner in close cooperation with public authorities, in a so-called co-regulation initiative.
It should be stressed that this Catalogue of feed materials is not exhaustive; feed materials not listed in the Catalogue may be placed on the EU market and used. However, in that case, the representatives of the EU feed business operators remind operators placing such feed materials on the market that they shall notify them through the online register feed materials (http://www.feedmaterialsregister.eu/ ). The catalogue remains a voluntary instrument, however feed business operators shall comply with the labeling requirements laid down in the catalogue when they use the terms of the catalogue
Further steps are required before EU operators of the feed chain can take full benefit of this Catalogue, and they include the translation into the EU community languages by the EU Commission services and the scrutiny by the European Parliament, which is expected to take approximately six months.
* AAF, AICV, AIJN, AIPCE, APAG, Brewers of Europe, CEEREAL, CEEV, CEFI, CEFIC, CEFS, CEPS, CIAA, COCERAL, COFALEC, COPA-COGECA, EABA, EAPA, EBB, eBio, EDA, EFPRA, EMFEMA, EMIDAS, EUCOLAIT, Euromaisiers, EUROMALT, EUROPATAT/UEITP, European Flour Millers, EUSALT, EUVEPRO, FEDIAF, FEDIOL, FEFAC, FERM, IFFO, IMA-Europe, PROFEL, UEPA
CEFS, the European Committee of Sugar Manufacturers (in French, Comité Européen des Fabricants de Sucre), is acting as the voice for all beet sugar manufacturers and cane sugar refiners, covering sugar production in 20 EU countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) plus Switzerland.
COPA-COGECA, the voice of European farmers and European cooperatives. Copa represents over 13 million farmers and their families whilst Cogeca represents the interest of 38,000 agricultural cooperatives. They have 77 member organisations from the EU member states.
FEFAC, the European Compound Feed Manufacturers' Federation, represents 21 national Associations in 20 EU Member States as well as Associations in Switzerland, Turkey, Norway, Croatia, Serbia and Russia with observer/associate member status. The European compound feed industry employs over 110,000 persons on app. 4,500 production sites often in rural areas, which offer few employment opportunities.