The European Commission has granted conditional regulatory approval to the proposed acquisition of the French petfood company Royal Canin SA. by Masterfoods Holding, a French subsidiary of Mars Inc. of the United States. Mars has undertaken to divest for the whole of Europe its businesses connected to five of the merged group's petfood brands, i.e. Advance, Premium, Royal Chien, Playdog and Brekkies, together with two major manufacturing plants in La Chappelle and Moulin, respectively in the centre (Loir-et-Cher) and south-east of France, as well as all other assets relating to the divested business.

Third countries export considerable quantities of animal by-products to the EU, either in the form of feed for farmed animals or pets (e.g. fishmeal, canned petfood) or as raw materials (e.g. tallow, bones, hides and skins) intended for the manufacture of such feed or for technical/industrial uses (production of cosmetics, medicinal products, medical devices, leather, glue, paint, plastic materials, etc).

The Netherlands has to make sure that they block all farms and feed producers potentially involved in the incident and has to circulate immediately a full list of all these farms and feed producers. The Netherlands shall also immediately communicate all test results obtained to the Commission and the Member States on an on-going basis;

14'. use of GMOs and GMO derivatives' shall mean use thereof as foodstuffs, food ingredients (including additives and flavourings), processing aids (including extraction solvents), feedingstuffs, compound feedingstuffs, feed materials, feed additives, processing aids for feedingstuffs, certain products used in animal nutrition (under Directive 82/471/EEC)(6), plant protection products, veterinary medicinal products, fertilisers, soil conditioners, seeds, vegetative reproductive material and livestock;

4.18. Feedingstuffs, feed materials, compound feedingstuffs feed additives, processing aids for feedingstuffs and certain products used in animal nutrition must not have been produced with the use of genetically modified organisms or products derived therefrom.

(24) Whereas feed materials containing levels of undesirable substances and products higher than those indicated for straight feedingstuffs in Annex I to Directive 74/63/EEC should be supplied only to compound feed manufacturers approved in accordance with the provisions of Council Directive 95/69/EC of 22 December 1995 laying down the conditions and arrangements for approving and registering certain establishments and intermediaries operating in the animal feed sector (7); whereas this should be stated on compulsory specific labelling indicating the intended use of the product; whereas these undesirable substances and products should ...[+++]be included on the list of Part B of Annex II to Directive 74/63/EEC, with certain exceptions relating to aflatoxin, cadmium and arsenic and feed materials containing these substances, which are already listed in Annex II, Part A to Directive 74/63/EEC;