Guidance for farmers on record-keeping requirements of Annexe I of the EC Feed Hygiene Regulation (183/2005) (England)

Who will this consultation be of most interest to?
Mainly primary producers (farmers) engaged in animal feed activities. Enforcement authorities.

What is the subject of this consultation?
Guidance on record-keeping on farms in England in relation to Annexe I of the EC Feed Hygiene Regulation (183/2005).

What is the purpose of this consultation?
To obtain stakeholder comments and views on the two draft guidance documents and accompanying Impact Assessment (see Annexe D), which can be found at the links below. The guidance is intended to help farmers comply with the record-keeping requirements of Annexe I (specifically part A, II) of the EC Feed Hygiene Regulation (183/2005) in a less burdensome way.

The Food Standards Agency is seeking comments on the guidance (see Annexe B at the link towards the end of this page) which has been specifically designed for farmers to help them comply with the record-keeping requirements of Annexe I (Part A, II) of the EC Feed Hygiene Regulation (183/2005).

The Regulation came into full effect for all feed business operators on 1 January 2008. The main purpose of the Regulation is to improve feed safety and it includes rules to improve operational standards of feed businesses and traceability measures to ensure that, in the case of a feed contamination incident, feeds can be easily traced and recalled if necessary.

EC Regulation 183/2005 applies to virtually all feed businesses that manufacture, market or use animal feed, including livestock farms, fish farms and arable farms growing and using or selling crops for feed use. One of the requirements of the Regulation is for feed businesses to carry out a certain amount of record-keeping so that if a feed or food related problem occurs, its origins can be quickly identified and appropriate measures taken. Annexe I (part A, II) of EC Regulation 183/2005 sets out a short list of record-keeping requirements that farmers must observe (this can be seen in the annexe in Annexe B).

In 2005, the Government measured the administrative burdens of regulations on business in England, including record-keeping requirements. The cost to farmers of complying with the record-keeping requirements of Annexe I of the Regulation, using a standard cost model, was estimated at £58 million per annum at 2005 prices.

In early 2009, the Food Standards Agency drafted a four-page guidance document intended to assist farmers in carrying out the record-keeping requirements of Annexe I of EC Regulation 183/2005 in a less burdensome way (see 'Long guidance' in Annexe B). The independent Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs (ACAF) was consulted and it recommended that that the guidance should also be summarised into a one-page document (see 'Short guidance' in Annexe B). In addition, the longer version of the guidance will be available online for those farmers who might want more detailed information.

It is the Agency’s policy to minimise the impact of regulations without compromising consumer safety. In terms of EC Regulation 183/2005, the Agency proposes to achieve this by issuing step-by-step guidance (as set out in Annexe B) to assist farmers in complying with Annexe I of the Regulation. It is considered that:

• the guidance will help farmers to spend less time on complying with the record-keeping requirements of Annexe I of EC Regulation (183/2005)
• the final version of the guidance will be presented in the form of an eye-catching leaflet
• the content of the leaflet will be similar to the short guidance as presented in Annexe B
• the Agency will publish the guidance on its website and liaise with farming organisations to distribute hard copies to farms

As indicated in paragraph 5, the views of ACAF have been received. Subsequently, both forms of guidance (the short and long versions) were then trialled with a range of farmer (e.g. dairy, poultry, pigs, arable and so on) to assess their applicability and impact on reducing burdens. The data from the trial has been used for the purposes of the accompanying Impact Assessment (IA) (see Annexe D).

Stakeholders and enforcement authorities are now invited to consider and comment on the text of the guidance and IA. We recommend that two options are considered:

• Option 1 – Do nothing: let farmers interpret EC Regulation 183/2005 without guidance.
• Option 2 – Issue guidance to assist farmers comply with the record-keeping requirements of Annex I of EC Regulation 183/2005.

The details of each of these options, together with costs and benefits of each are set out in the IA. The issues on which we would like stakeholders' views are set out in the box immediately below.

• whether the guidance would assist farmers to comply with the recordkeeping requirements of Annexe I of EC Regulation 183/2005 in a less burdensome way
• how the guidance should be publicised
• the time required to comply with the record-keeping requirements by having the guidance to refer to
• the content of the guidance

All responses received as part of this consultation will be given careful consideration.

All comments received will be summarised and published online within three months as part of the post-consultation action unless stakeholders particularly request that their comments be treated as confidential. Comments may be made by post, by fax, or by email.

Responses are required by close on Tuesday 11 May 2010. Please state, in your response, whether you are responding as a private individual or on behalf of an organisation or company (including details of any stakeholders your organisation represents).

This consultation has been prepared in accordance with the HM Government Code of Practice on Consultation, which states that a consultation must follow better regulation best practice, including carrying out an Impact Assessment (Regulatory Impact Assessment in Scotland). The assessment is included in the consultation documents.

We are interested in what you thought of this consultation and would therefore welcome your general feedback on both the consultation package and overall consultation process. If you would like to assist us to improve the quality of future consultations, please feel free to share your thoughts with us by using the consultation feedback questionnaire.

In accordance with the FSA principle of openness we shall keep a copy of the completed consultation and responses, to be made available to the public on request. The FSA will publish a summary of responses, which may include personal data, such as your full name. Disclosure of any other personal data would be made only upon request for the full consultation responses. If you do not want this information to be released, please complete and return the Publication of Personal Data Form. Return of this form does not mean that we will treat your response to the consultation as confidential, just your personal data.

Within three months of a consultation ending we aim to publish a summary of responses received and provide a link to it from this page.

If, after three months, the summary is still not showing, please contact the person who was responsible for the original consultation. Alternatively, you can contact the FSA Consultation Co-ordinator by email: consultationcoordinator@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk