22. 9. 93 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 237/23 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COUNCIL COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 93/74/EEC of 13 September 1993 on feedingstuffs intended for particular nutritional purposes THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the European Par- liament (3), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Whereas feedingstuffs intended for particular nutritional purposes are playing an increasing role in the diet of pet animals ; whereas such products are also used in the rearing of productive livestock ; Whereas, in some Member States, feedingstuffs covered by this Directive are already marketed in such a way as to draw the attention of users to their particular composi- tion ; Whereas a common definition should be laid down for the products concerned; whereas that definition must provide that products presented as intended to meet certain specific nutritional needs must have a specific composition and/or be manufactured using special methods ; whereas it is essential to establish the principle that such feedingstuffs must be clearly distinguished, in their characteristics and purpose, from both ordinary feedingstufffs and medicated feedingstuffs; Whereas the composition and preparation of feedingsuffs intended for particular nutritional purposes must be () OJ No C 231, 9. 9. 1992, p. 6. () OJ No C 21, 25. 1. 1993, p. 73. () OJ No C 73, 15. 3. 1993, p. 25. specially designed to meet the particular nutritional needs of categories of pets or productive livestock whose process of assimilation, absorption or metabolism could briefly be impaired or is temporarily or irreversibly impaired ; Whereas, when rules are being laid down for the mar- keting of feedingstuffs intended for particular nutritional purposes, care should be taken to ensure that such feedingstuffs have a beneficial effect on the animals which ingest them ; whereas feedingstuffs must therefore always be of merchantable quality ; whereas they must neither present a hazard for animal or human health or for the environment nor be marketed in a manner liable to mislead ; Whereas this Directive applies without prejudice to other Community provisions on feedingstuffs, and particularly the rules applicable to compound feedingstuffs ; Whereas the user of feedingstuffs intended for particular nutritional purposes needs to be provided with accurate and meaningful information ; Whereas in order to distinguish between the feedingstuffs meeting the criteria laid down in this Directive and other feedingstuffs, a single qualifying expression, ‘dietetic’, must accompany the description of the feedingstuff; Whereas, as in the case of ordinary feedingstuffs, at least the levels of analytical constituents having a direct effect on the quality of the feedingstuff should be declared; whereas provision should be made for the declaration of certain additional analytical constituents which give the feedingstuff its dietetic properties ; Whereas all producers of feedingstuffs intended for particular nutritional purposes must have the option of indicating on the label certain particulars useful to the user ;