Commission makes law look an ass

Over the years, there have been several occasions when the European Commission has decided to repeal or replace EU legislation that did not work.

In the examples that come to mind, the lobbying before the legislation was passed pointed out the shortcomings in the drafts, but the Commission was unmoved. Nothing is more frustrating for any industry than when the Commission acknowledges flaws only after it has adopted measures and years have been wasted in the attempt to comply.

It is worse than the apocryphal eurosausage because these are real problems that cost money and waste the time of management and officials alike. It seems that the Commission does not like to lose face. It gives the impression that it would rather impose flawed legislation and rescind it later when people may have forgotten, moved on, or died, than recognise the difficulties in the first place.

A recent example is related to the Animal By-Products Regulations that were adopted in 2002. They imposed impracticable limitations on disposal of animal by-products, such as food waste, and dairy products, such as milk and whey, even in cases where there was no risk to man nor beast.

Equally anomalous was that procedures for the disposal of higher-risk material were more flexible than those permitted for less hazardous waste. So, the recent proposed amendments adopt a risk-based approach.

They also attempt to clarify the relationship between the by-products legislation and other EU regulations to avoid unnecessary duplication and to ensure that if premises are already approved under one set of rules they do not need to be re-approved under another.

Clare Cheney​ is director general at the Provision Trade Federation