
Article 1 
Decision 2006/601/EC is amended as follows:

1.. Article 2 is replaced by the following:
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Article 2 

1. Member States shall allow the first placing on the market of the products referred to in Article 1 only if the consignment of those products is accompanied by the following documents:
(a) a statement from the food business operator responsible for the consignment that the products do only contain rice, from the 2007 or a subsequent harvest, that was subject to the plan of the USA Rice federation aiming to remove “LL RICE 601” from the US export channels; and
(b) the original of an analytical report issued by a laboratory referred to in Annex II confirming that the products do not contain the genetically modified rice “LL RICE 601”. The analytical report shall be accompanied by an official document issued by the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in accordance with the protocol described in Annex II.
2. If a consignment is split, copies of the documents referred to in paragraph 1 shall accompany each part of the split consignment up to and including the wholesale stage. Those copies shall be certified by the competent authority of the Member State on whose territory the splitting has taken place.'
2.. Article 3 is replaced by the following:
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Article 3 

1. Member States shall take appropriate measures, including random sampling and analysis carried out in accordance with Annex I concerning the products referred to in Article 1 presented for importation or already on the market in order to verify the absence of genetically modified rice “LL RICE 601”. They shall inform the Commission of positive (unfavourable) results through the Rapid Alert System for food and feed.
2. Member States shall by 26 July 2008 at the latest submit to the Commission a report of all analytical results of official controls on consignments of products referred to in Article 1.'
3.. Paragraph 1 of Article 5 is replaced by the following:
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1. All costs resulting from issuing the accompanying documents pursuant to Article 2(2) shall be borne by the food business operator responsible for the consignment or its representative.'
4.. Article 6 is replaced by the following:
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Article 6 
The measures provided for in this Decision shall be reviewed by 26 August 2008 at the latest.'
5.. In the heading of the Annex the word ‘Annex’ is replaced by ‘Annex I’.
6.. The text in the Annex to this Decision is added as Annex II.
Article 2 
This Decision is addressed to the Member States.
Done at Brussels, 26 February 2008.
For the Commission
Markos KYPRIANOU
Member of the Commission
ANNEX


ANNEX II 
Sampling. Each consignment (lot) of U.S. long grain rice to be shipped to Europe shall be officially sampled by USDA's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) personnel in accordance with established sampling procedures. These procedures appear in GIPSA's Rice Inspection Handbook, Chapter 2, Sampling.

The size of the original bulk sample shall be in accordance with Commission Recommendation 2004/787/EC. GIPSA personnel shall prepare a representative 2,5 kg lot composite sample for the testing laboratory and will retain an identical 2,5 kg file sample. GIPSA will apply a seal to the laboratory sample and record the seal number for future reference.

Testing. The applicant for service shall forward the sealed sample to one of the commercial testing laboratories participating successfully in the LibertyLink rice proficiency program administered by GIPSA and listed at this location: http://archive.gipsa.usda.gov/rdd/llriceprof.pdf Each laboratory tests pools of samples within its verified detection level to achieve a 0,01 per cent level of detection.

The laboratory shall record the seal number, break the seal, and test four 240 gram samples taken from the single laboratory sample. One extraction will be made from each sample. Two PCR analyses shall be made for each extraction using the 35S:BAR method developed by Bayer CropScience and verified by both GIPSA and the JRC. The lot shall be considered negative only when all sample results are negative.

Reporting. The laboratory shall report results, and the GIPSA seal number, on the lab report, and provide it to the applicant for service. The applicant shall provide the lab report to the GIPSA office that sampled the lot. GIPSA will issue an official document as follows, and provide it to the applicant:

'GIPSA officially sampled the lot of rice identified as (specify lot identification) and applied seal number (enter seal number). (Enter lab name), who participates in the LibertyLink rice proficiency program administered by GIPSA, tested a sample identified with this seal number and did not detect LibertyLink rice based on the verified 35S:BAR method. The lab report is attached.’' 

