Regulation 2016/52 - Maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination of food and feed following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological emergency - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 13/2

Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom (3) lays down basic safety standards for the protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation.

Following the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station on 26 April 1986, considerable quantities of radioactive materials were released into the atmosphere, contaminating food and feed in several European countries to levels that were significant from the point of view of health. Measures were adopted to ensure that certain agricultural products are only introduced into the Union in accordance with the common arrangements which safeguard the health of the population while maintaining the unified nature of the market and avoiding deflections of trade.

Council Regulation (Euratom) No 3954/87 (4) lays down maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination to be applied following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological emergency which is likely to lead or has led to significant radioactive contamination of food and feed. Those maximum permitted levels are still in line with the latest scientific advice as presently available internationally. The basis for the establishment of the maximum permitted levels set out in this Regulation has been reviewed and described in the Commission Radiation Protection Publication 105 (EU Food Restriction Criteria for Application after an Accident). In particular, those levels are based on a reference level of 1 mSv per year for the increment in individual effective dose by ingestion and on the assumption that 10 % of food consumed annually is contaminated. However, different assumptions apply to infants under 1 year.

Following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power station on 11 March 2011, the Commission was informed that radionuclide levels in certain food products originating in Japan exceeded the action levels in food applicable in Japan. Such contamination could constitute a threat to public and animal health in the Union and therefore measures were adopted imposing special conditions governing the import of food and feed originating in or consigned from Japan, in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, established by Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5).

There is a need to set up a system allowing the Community, following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological emergency which is likely to lead or has led to a significant radioactive contamination of food and feed, to establish maximum permitted levels of radioactive contamination regarding products to be placed on the market in order to protect the population.

Like other food, drinking water is ingested directly or indirectly and therefore plays a role in the consumer's overall exposure to radioactive substances. With regard to radioactive...