• Entrepreneurs
• Business information
• Certification
• CAFIA laboratories
• CAFIA opinions
• More information
• Consumers
• How to know the food market
• Results of CAFIA inspections
• Consumer rights
• List of risky sites
• Hoaxes
• Other visitors
• Press Releases
• Internships at CAFIA
• Public contracts

2.6. Legislation

2.6.1. Creating and commenting on the legislation

In 2004, the activity in the sphere of creating and commenting on the legislation was very extensive and important. The accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union markedly reflected on this sphere. The most important legislative work was an amendment to Act No. 146/2002 Coll., on the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority, as subsequently amended, (hereinafter referred to as the “Act on CAFIA”), amendment to Act No. 110/1997 Coll., on foodstuffs and tobacco products and on amendments to some related Acts, as subsequently amended, (hereinafter referred to as the “Act on foodstuffs”), and creation of a new Act No. 321/2004 Coll., on viticulture and viniculture and on amendments to some related Acts (hereinafter referred to as the “Act on viticulture and viniculture”).

The Act on CAFIA extended the competencies of the CAFIA. These include for example a competence to check whether food business operators carried out their duties resulting for them from directly binding EC legislation, or competence to approve the procedure and method of irradiating foodstuffs and raw materials with ionizing radiation.

The amendment to the Act on foodstuffs imposed new obligations on inspected persons. These include, for example, obligation of a food business operator to notify the relevant inspectorate of stocks, or obligation of food business operator who imports foodstuffs from third countries to meet the requirements laid down by EC Decisions.

The new Act on viticulture and viniculture is drawn up as a national legal framework within the Regulations of the EC Council and Commission, which are directly applicable in the Member States, and contains several essential changes. For instance, it introduces new wine type, so called “wine of original certification”. The application for permission to produce such wine can be submitted by an association established for this purpose to the Ministry of Agriculture. This Act also newly defines that classification of quality wines is now carried out by the CAFIA and not by the Ministry of Agriculture.

The CAFIA was actively involved in the creation of more than 20 implementing regulations to the Act on foodstuffs, the most important of which was amendment to the Decree on sampling and to the Government Regulation on the rapid alert system on the emergence of risk for human health posed by unsafe food and feed.

2.6.2. Participation in the meetings of EU bodies

Through participation of its experts in the meetings of the EC Commission and Council working groups and committees, the CAFIA was actively involved in legislative activities at the European level. By the end of the year, 22 experts who were nominated to these working groups took active part in the meetings on behalf of the CR. The CAFIA recognizes how important these activities are, since with the accession of the CR to the EU its role changed from a position of an observer to the of an active negotiator with the right to vote and with full responsibility for opinions presented on behalf of the CR at the meetings. In 2004, CAFIA experts actively participated in 46 meetings of working groups and committees, expert groups and committees, standing committees, legislative and regulatory committees of the European Commission and of the Council. In comparison with last year this number doubled. The largest participation from CAFIA´s part was ensured in the EC expert committee – working group for agricultural contaminants, in the group of government EC experts for methods of wine analysis, and in the Council working group for Codex Alimentarius – food additives and contaminants.

A CAFIA representative also participates weekly in the meetings of the Co-ordination group (CG) at the Ministry of Agriculture. The CG is a co-ordination centre for approving instructions, positions and mandates presented by the CR at the meetings of EU working groups and committees, including COREPER, Special Committee on Agriculture, and Council of Ministers for Agriculture and Fishery. The CG work significantly contributes to ensuring that elaborate opinions are presented on the European grounds and that problems associated with negotiating are addressed flexibly.