130 | ( Existing provisions in the area of the proposal 1. Council Directive 89/107/EEC of 21 December 1988 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning food additives authorised for use in foodstuffs intended for human consumption. The procedure laid down in the above Directive is close to the procedure established by this proposal in that it provides for the creation of a positive list of authorised additives at Community level. It differs from the procedure envisaged in this proposal as regards the following aspects in particular: the existing procedure is out of date insofar as it ...[+++]does not use the new framework for risk assessment in matters of food safety established by Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety; an additive is included on the positive list following the adoption of a directive under the codecision procedure, rather than by means of a regulation and the comitology procedure as envisaged by this proposal.

The present Regulation lists the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas (negative list) and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (positive list).

- the principle of a positive list would be maintained: only the additives listed in a Community register would be allowed to be placed on the market, used or processed, subject to particular conditions of use if necessary.

If you feel there should be a positive list and a negative list, essentially, what should be on the positive list, what should be on the negative list, and what areas of service are you not sure of?

(5) Whereas, until the entry into force of the Community positive list of foodstuffs which may be treated with ionising radiation, it is appropriate that Member States may, in compliance with the rules of the Treaty, continue to apply existing national restrictions or bans on ionising radiation of foodstuffs and on trade in irradiated foodstuffs which are not included in the initial positive list established by the implementing Directive;

The areas in which the widest divergences were found to exist include: t product lists: differences in content and presentation; for example, the lists and any amendments are not published simultaneously in all the Member States; e country lists: some Member States publish a list of proscribed destinations, others publish a list of "special facility" destinations, while a third group publishes neither white nor black lists; y ex ...[+++]port licences: all Member States issue validated individual licences and most issue simplified licences, but the conditions of issue, the physical appearance and other features of the licences vary significantly; a penalties: although any breach of the regulations is a punishable offence in every Member State, the fines and terms of imprisonment differ considerably; depending on the country, the maximum fine ranges from some ECU 16 000 to an unlimited amount, and the term of imprisonment from two to seven years; information exchange and administrative cooperation between Member States: although informal but effective arrangements exist for the exchange of information between some Member States, there is no official, Communitybwide intelligence network; an effort is being made in some Member States to computerize administrative procedures, but their compatibility both within the Member States concerned and between them and other Member States is difficult to assess; it would appear, moreover, that nothing has been done to computerize the issuing of export licences.