Vol. 561 No. 3
63 Ms Lynch asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason his Department has failed to transpose into law EU directives on animal nutrition which had a September deadline, the placing of plant products on the market which had a deadline of May 2002, and the labelling of beef; when these will be transposed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3871/03]
The first two directives to which the Deputy refers are (a) Directive 2001/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directive 95/53/EC fixing the principles governing the organisation of official inspections in the field of animal nutrition and Directives 70/524/EEC, 96/25/EC and 1999/29/EC on animal nutrition and (b) Commission Directive 2001/36/EC amending Council Directive 91/414/EEC concerning the placing of plant protection products on the market. When transposing these Directives, my Department decided to use this opportunity to implement a detailed review of and consolidate the existing national legislation with a view to providing more comprehensive and user-friendly legislation in these areas in line with the stated Government policy on better regulation. I expect that this work will be completed shortly.
