Documents relating to EU scrutiny have been circulated by the clerk to the committee. The documents have been referred to us by the Sub-committee on EU Scrutiny. The documents are contained in 3.1 Com (2003) 52 proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on official feed and food controls. The proposal lays down the rules to be respected by the competent authorities responsible for carrying out official controls and the tasks of the European Commission with regard to the organisation of these controls. The proposal results from a review of the existing community rules and covers the entire range of activities covered by the food and feed law, including feed and food safety and also other aspects relating to consumer protection, such as food and feed labelling.
In addition, the Commission's control services will concentrate on evaluating the competent authorities' capacity and training to deliver national surveillance and control systems through audits and inspections by the food and veterinary office of the European Commission.
I am sure members will agree that any measures, from a consumer perspective, that seek to improve controls and inspection measures on food and feed at local, regional, national and Union level must be welcomed.
There are obligations in the proposed directive requiring a detailed plan to include such a national approach for the supervision, monitoring and inspection of hygiene controls for food and feed within a Union approach. Do members have comments on the proposed directive?