Council Regulation (EEC) No 1208/81 of 28 April 1981 determining the Community scale for the classification of carcases of adult bovine animals
Modified by
  • Council Regulation (EEC) No 1026/91of 22 April 1991amending Regulation (EEC) No 1208/81 determining the Community scale for the classification of carcases of adult bovine animals, 31991R1026, April 26, 1991
  • Council Regulation (EC) No 1183/2006of 24 July 2006concerning the Community scale for the classification of carcasses of adult bovine animals(codified version), 32006R1183, August 4, 2006
Corrected by
  • Corrigendum to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1208/81 of 28 April 1981 determining the Community scale for the classification of carcases of adult bovine animals, 31981R1208R(02), February 11, 1986
Council Regulation (EEC) No 1208/81of 28 April 1981determining the Community scale for the classification of carcases of adult bovine animals THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 of 27 June 1968 on the common organization of the market in beef and vealOJ No L 148, 28. 6. 1968, p. 24., as last amended by the 1979 Act of Accession,Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1358/80 of 5 June 1980 fixing the guide price and intervention price for adult bovine animals for the 1980/81 marketing year and introducing a Community grading scale for carcases of adult bovine animalsOJ No L 140, 5. 6. 1980, p. 4., and in particular Article 4 (1) thereof,Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,Whereas Regulation (EEC) No 1358/80 provided that a Community grading scale for carcases of adult bovine animals should be applied for recording prices and for intervention in the beef and veal sector;Whereas the classification must be made on the basis of conformation and the degree of fat cover; whereas the combination of these two criteria enables carcases of adult bovine animals to be divided into classes; whereas carcases thus classified must be identified;Whereas, in order to ensure the uniform application of this Regulation in the Community, provision should be made for on-the-spot checks by a Community inspection committee;Whereas, taking into account the practical problems that are entailed by the implementation of the Community scale for classification in the Member States, it is necessary to provide for its gradual application,HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1This Regulation lays down the Community classification scale for the carcases of adult bovine animals.
Article 21.For the purposes of this Regulation the following definitions shall apply:(a)carcase: the whole body of a slaughtered animal as presented after bleeding, evisceration and skinning, presented:without the head and without the feet; the head shall be separated from the carcase at the atloido-occipital joint and the feet shall be severed at the carpametacarpal or tarsometatarsal joints,without the organs contained in the thoracic and abdominal cavities with or without the kidneys, the kidney fat and the pelvic fat,without the sexual organs and the attached muscles and, in females, without the udder or the mammary fat;(b)half-carcase: the product obtained by separating the carcase referred to in (a) symmetrically through the middle of each cervical, dorsal, lumbar and sacral vertebra and through the middle of the sternum and the ischiopubic symphysis.2.Furthermore, for the purpose of establishing market prices, the carcase shall be presented without the removal of external fat:without kidneys, kidney fat, or pelvic fat,without thin skirt or thick skirt,without the tail,without the spinal cord,without cod fat,without fat on the inside of topside,without jugular vein and the adjacent fat,the neck being cut in accordance with veterinary requirements.However, Member States shall be authorized to accept different presentations when this reference presentation is not used.In such instances, the adjustments necessary to progress from those presentations to the reference presentation shall be determined in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 27 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68.
Article 31.The carcases of adult bovine animals shall be divided into the following categories:A.carcases of uncastrated young male animals of less than two years of age;B.carcases of other uncastrated male animals;C.carcases of castrated male animals;D.carcases of female animals that have calved;E.carcases of other female animals.Without prejudice to the intervention rules applying, the letters A, B, C, D and E shall be used to identify carcases as from 1 January 1992.Criteria shall be laid down for differentiating between categories of carcases in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 27 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68.2.The carcases of adult bovine animals shall be classified by successive assessment of:(a)conformation;(b)fat cover,as defined in Annexes I and II respectively.The conformation class designated in Annex I by the letter S may be used by Member States to take account, through the optional introduction of a conformation class superior to the existing classes (double-muscled carcases), of the characteristics or expected development of a particular form of production.Member States which intend to make use of this possibility shall notify the Commission and the other Member States accordingly.3.Member States shall be authorized to subdivide each of the classes provided for in Annexes I and II into a maximum of three sub-classes.
Article 41.Carcases or half-carcases shall be classified as soon as possible after slaughter and such classification shall be carried out in the slaughterhouse itself.2.The classified carcases or half-carcases shall be identified.3.Before identification by marking, Member States shall be authorized to remove the external fat from the carcases or half-carcases if this is justified by the fat cover.The conditions in which removal of the external fat will be applied shall be determined in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 27 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68.
Article 5On-the-spot inspection shall be carried out by a Community inspection committee composed of experts from the Commission and experts appointed by the Member States. This Committee shall report back to the Commission on checks carried out.The Commission shall, if appropriate, take the measures necessary to ensure that the classification is carried out in a uniform manner.These inspections shall be carried out on behalf of the Community, which shall bear the resulting costs.The detailed rules for applying this Article shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 27 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68.
Article 6Additional provisions specifying the definition of the classes of conformation and fat cover shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 27 of Regulation (EEC) No 805/68 before 30 June 1981.The Commission shall, before 31 December 1981, submit to the Council a report on the problems arising from the implementation in the different Member States of the Community scale, particularly as regards the application of the provisions of the second subparagraph of Article 3 (2).The Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission, shall decide before 31 March 1982, in the light of the said report, on the date from which the establishment of market prices and application of intervention measures shall be effected on the basis of the Community scale.Until the date of application for the establishment of market prices, price tables will be drawn up on a parallel basis, firstly, in accordance with currently-applicable Community and national provisions and, secondly, on the basis of administrative methods to be drawn up progressively in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation.
Article 7This Regulation shall enter into force at the beginning of the 1981/82 marketing year.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.ANNEX ICONFORMATION
Development of carcase profiles, in particular the essential parts (round, back, shoulder)
Conformation classDescription
SSuperiorAll profiles extremely convex; exceptional muscle development (double-muscled carcase type)
EExcellentAll profiles convex to super-convex; exceptional muscle development
UVery goodProfiles on the whole convex; very good muscle development
RGoodProfiles on the whole straight; good muscle development
OFairProfiles straight to concave; average muscle development
PPoorAll profiles concave to very concave; poor muscle development
ANNEX IIDEGREE OF FAT COVER
Amount of fat on the outside of the carcase and in the thoracic cavity
Class of fat coverDescription
1lowNone up to low fat cover
2slightSlight fat cover, flesh visible almost everywhere
3averageFlesh, with the exception of the round and shoulder, almost everywhere covered with fat, slight deposits of fat in the thoracic cavity
4highFlesh covered with fat, but on the round and shoulder still partly visible, some distinctive fat deposits in the thoracic cavity
5very highEntire carcase covered with fat; heavy fat deposits in the thoracic cavity