Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2017)742 - Amendment of Council Directive 92/66/EEC introducing Community measures for the control of Newcastle disease - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2017)742 - Amendment of Council Directive 92/66/EEC introducing Community measures for the control of Newcastle disease. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2017)742  |
| date | 06-12-2017 |
1. LEGAL CONTEXT OF THIS DIRECTIVE
Council Directive 92/66/EEC lays down measures to be applied in the event of an outbreak of Newcastle disease in poultry and in certain birds. Among other things, the Directive confers on the Council, acting by qualified majority on a proposal from the Commission, the power to amend the Directive's Annexes. Inter alia, the Council has therefore the power to amend, Annexes V, VI and VII which cover the designation of an EU Reference Laboratory (EURL) for Newcastle disease, the template to be used by Member States to report to the Commission on the situation of the disease, and the control measures applied, as well as the criteria for Member States to draw up contingency plans to be implemented in the event of a disease outbreak.
Those empowerments conferred on the Council are at odds with the new system of legislation and executive rule-making introduced by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), more specifically with Article 291. Furthermore, in relation to the designation of EURLs, the current provisions for amending Annex V of Council Directive 92/66/EEC are inconsistent with the new designation regime for EURLs introduced by Regulation (EU) 2017/625 on Official Controls ('OCR'). This Regulation requires the Commission to designate EURLs by means of implementing acts.
The objective of this Proposal is to amend Council Directive 92/66/EEC to be aligned with the TFEU and new official control provisions in order to ensure legal coherence and certainty to enable the necessary simplification of procedures.
The current European Reference Laboratory (EURL) for Newcastle disease is located in the United Kingdom. Hence, it needs to be replaced by an EURL located in one of the other 27 Member States in view of the United Kingdom exiting the EU. The current procedure for designating an EURL for Newcastle disease is via a Council Directive. Therefore, an aligned and simplified decision procedure is urgently needed to enable the new EURL to be properly functioning by the date when the United Kingdom will exit the EU. This technical revision of the Directive will enable the use of the required implementing procedure to designate a new EURL for Newcastle disease within the tight deadlines related to BREXIT.
Whilst the main objective is to align the Directive in question with the TFEU and EU rules on the designation of EURLs, the measures proposed will also provide greater legal consistency and more streamlined implementing procedures.
Contents
PRIOR TO THE ADOPTION OF THIS DIRECTIVE
The revision of Directive 92/66/EEC concerns purely necessary technical changes. Those changes are needed to ensure consistency with the TFEU and Regulation (EU) 2017/625 on official controls. Stakeholders were widely consulted on both the Treaty and the Regulation.
In addition, considering the purely technical/procedural nature of the intended changes, a full public consultation strategy is not considered necessary in this specific case. The 4-week feedback mechanism on the Roadmap will apply.
3. LEGAL BASIS OF THIS DIRECTIVE
The legal basis is Article 43(2) TFEU.
The proposal does not imply incurring any expenditure which is not already foreseen in the financial statement of the common financial framework. No additional human resources are envisaged either.