
Article 1 
Pursuant to Article 32(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 and by way of derogation from paragraph 5(b) of Chapter III of Annex VIII to that Regulation, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Finland may continue to grant individual approvals, until 31 December 2006 at the latest, to operators of premises and facilities in conformity with national rules, to apply such rules, for the heat treatment process for manure, provided that the national rules:

((a)) guarantee the overall reduction of pathogens;
((b)) are only applied in premises and facilities that applied those rules on 1 November 2002; and
((c)) comply with the rest of the requirements of Chapter III of Annex VIII to Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002.
Article 2 
The competent authority shall take the necessary measures to control compliance by authorised operators of premises and facilities with the conditions set out in Article 1
Article 3 

1. Individual approvals by the competent authority for the heat treatment process for manure shall be immediately and permanently withdrawn in respect of any operator, premises or facilities if the conditions set out in this Decision are no longer fulfilled.
2. The competent authority shall withdraw any approvals granted under Article 1 by 31 December 2006 at the latest.The competent authority shall not grant a final approval under Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 unless on the basis of its inspections it is satisfied that the premises and facilities referred to in Article 1 meet all the requirements of that Regulation.
3. Any material that does not comply with the requirements of this Decision shall be disposed of in accordance with the instructions of the competent authority.
Article 4 
Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Finland shall immediately take the necessary measures to comply with this Decision and shall publish those measures. They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof.
Article 5 
This Decision shall apply from 1 May 2003 to 31 December 2006.
Article 6 
This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of Belgium, the French Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Republic of Finland.