Regulations (EC) No 852/2004,(EC) No 853/2004,(EC) No 854/2004 and (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council provide for significant changes to the rules and procedures to be followed by food business operators and the competent authorities of the EU Member States. Those Regulations apply from 1 January 2006. However, the application of a number of these measures with immediate effect from that date would have presented practical difficulties in certain cases.                                                            

With a special Commission Regulation provisions are made for a further transitional period during which certain transitional arrangements should continue to apply until 31 December 2013.                                                                                                            

These provisions include special conditions from 1 January 2010 for non-harmonised products and composite products.