At the plenary vote on the amendments to the Waste Framework Directive, the European Parliament left the Commission feed exclusion proposal intact.
On 14 March 2017 the European Parliament voted through the report by Simona Bonafè on the amendments to the Waste Framework Directive, as part of the Circular Economy Package. COCERAL, EFFPA, FEFAC and PFP are pleased that the European Parliament has kept raw materials placed on the market as feed outside the scope of the Waste Framework Directive as proposed by the European Commission. This confirms that these raw materials are subject to EU feed legislation and official feed controls only. COCERAL, EFFPA, FEFAC and PFP stress that good practices in the feed supply chain as regards feed safety management and traceability ensure an uninterrupted HACCP chain in the conversion of by-products from the food and bioenergy chain into feed.
The European Parliament hereby also allows to further build on the approach that former foodstuff processors are fully integrated in the food-to-feed chain and do not operate as ‘(food) waste recyclers’. It remains extremely important for this sector to obtain the legal certainty that when former foodstuffs are placed on the market as feed, this legal status cannot be overturned by environmental authorities based on by-product criteria interpretation of the Waste Framework Directive.
The vote in plenary session marks the negotiation position of the European Parliament. The position of the Council of Ministers is expected during the Estonian EU Council Presidency.