(fra kommisjonsbeslutningen)

(1) Commission Decision 2002/994/EC (2) applies to all products of animal origin, which are intended for human consumption or animal feed use, from China.

(2) Pursuant to Article 2(1) of that Decision, Member States are to prohibit the entry of those products, and Article 2(2) thereof provides for two derogations from that general prohibition.

(3) Under the first derogation, Member States are to authorise imports of products listed in Part I of the Annex to Decision 2002/994/EC in accordance with the specific animal and public health conditions applicable to the respective products concerned.

(4) Under the second derogation, Member States are to authorise imports of products listed in Part II of the Annex to Decision 2002/994/EC that are accompanied by a declaration from the Chinese competent authority, referred to in Article 3 of that Decision, stating that each consignment has been subjected to a chemical test, to ensure that the products concerned do not present a danger to animal or human health.

(5) Chitosan, similarly to glucosamine, is mainly obtained by hydrolysis of chitin from insect and crustacean shells. Chitosan is a polysaccharide composed of glucosamine units. Both products are intended for animal feed use as evidenced by entry 13.2.8 in Part C of the Annex to Commission Regulation (EU) No 68/2013 (3). In addition, both products are listed as highly refined products in points 1(d) and (e) of Section XVI of Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) and therefore subject to the same requirement that the treatment of the raw materials of animal origin used in the manufacturing of those products eliminates any animal or public health risk. However, while glucosamine is listed in Part I of the Annex to Decision 2002/994/EC, and is therefore authorised for entry into the Union from China without the declaration referred to in Article 3 to that Decision, chitosan is currently not listed in the same way.

(6) It is therefore appropriate to apply the first derogation from the prohibition on the import of certain products into the Union from China, provided for in Article 2(2) of Decision 2002/994/EC, also to chitosan by including it in the list of products intended for human consumption or animal feed use from China that are authorised for entry without the declaration referred to in Article 3 to that Decision.

(7) Part I of the Annex to Decision 2002/994/EC should, therefore, be amended accordingly.

(8) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,