Public Service
The Directorate General of Food and Nutrition (direction générale de l’alimentation - DGAl) from the french ministry of agriculture is in charge of preparing and applying the regulatory texts for the food sector. The cold chain is a key component in food safety. Temperature-controlled carriage is a major link in this cold chain. In order to ensure quality, it has been subject to obligations on means since the 1950's in France and since 1970 at the international level.
Tody, the following mandatory agreement, directive and decree give the requirements to this activity :
"- Accord relatif aux transports internationaux de denrées périssables et aux engins spéciaux à utiliser pour ces transports (ATP) downloadable here :
http://www.unece.org/trans/main/wp11/wp11fdoc/ATP-2010e.pdf
- Règlements européens : 178/2002, 852/2004, 853/2004, 854/2004, 882/2004, et 183/2005 (Paquet hygiène)
- Code rural, notamment ses articles L. 231-1 et L. 231-4-1
- Règlement (CE) n° 37/2005 relatif au contrôle des températures dans les moyens de transport et les locaux d'entreposage et de stockage des aliments surgelés destinés à l'alimentation humaine
- Avis de l’Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des aliments du 28 août 2006
- Décret n° 2007-1791 du 19 décembre 2007 relatif aux conditions techniques du transport des denrées alimentaires sous température dirigée
- Arrêté du 1er juillet 2008 fixant les modalités du contrôle technique des engins de transport de denrées périssables
- Arrêté du 2 juin 2008 relatif à la désignation du Cemafroid comme organisme délégataire pour l’examen technique des moyens de transport des denrées alimentaires sous température dirigée et la délivrance des attestations officielles de conformité pour les engins de transport sous température dirigée
- Convention du 12 juin 2008 relatif à la délégation de service public dans le cadre de la désignation du Cemafroid susmentionnée
- Arrêté du 20 juillet 1998 fixant les conditions techniques et hygiéniques applicables au transport des aliments
- Arrêté du 21 décembre 2009 relatif aux règles sanitaires applicables aux activités de commerce de détail, d'entreposage et de transport de produits d'origine animale et denrées alimentaires en contenant."
This document are downloadable at the following address http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/
Cemafroid is the competent body which has been designated by the Directorate General of Food and Nutrition of the French Ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries to carry out the procedures assessing compliance of the operators involved in special equipment controls.
Cemafroid also brings its technical support and expertise to the administration, particularly for international negotiations.
 Certification of new equipments for the temperature-controlled carriage of perishable foodstuffs
Where equipment for the temperature-controlled carriage of perishable foodstuffs are to travel through France, each carriage equipment is required, from a regulatory standpoint, to satisfy the criteria defined by ATP (Agreement on the international carriage of perishable foodstuffs and on the special equipment to be used for such carriage). Satisfaction of these criteria is shown by a Certificate of Technical Compliance which is issued by a competent authority (Cemafroid in France) upon completion of a process described below.
New equipment must comply with a certified type or its allowable variations (as defined in ATP Annex 1, Appendix 1, Section 2.c), the certified type being defined after a specimen has been tested by an official testing station (Cemafroid in France). The tests used in the definition of the certified type are performed on the specimen corresponding to the worst-case configuration of manufacture represented. The test result is used to assign the type of equipment to a given category (insulated, refrigerated, refrigerating, class, etc.). The test report resulting in a certificate of type conformity (both documents together being generally referred to as the Official test Report), is proof that the type meets the regulatory requirements.
For the Certificate of Technical Compliance to be issued for a single equipment or an equipment series, an application aiming at establishing that the equipment or series of equipment actually belongs to the certified type must be filed and processed by the competent authority (Cemafroid in France) according to a defined national procedure which is based on entry of the required information into a national database of temperature-controlled equipment (Datafrig).
Manufacturers may be authorised by Cemafroid to carry out the data entry procedure into the database themselves prior to the processing phase.
If an agent or manufacturer does not wish to obtain authorisation to perform this procedure, he should send his application for Certificate of Technical Compliance to the competent authority (Cemafroid in France), which will process the application.
Retesting of in service equipments
Equipment for the temperature-controlled carriage of perishable foodstuffs are subject to the certificate of technical compliance issued by delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture by Cemafroid. This certificate, which is initially issued when the equipment is commissioned, must be renewed after a period of 6 years, and then, after a second period of 3 years. When the equipment is 12 years of age, the certificate of technical compliance may be issued only after the equipment has gone through an official testing station (Cemafroid in France). For tanks, the renewal frequency has been set to 6 years according to specific methods (going through a tunnel or undergoing thermal reinsulation).
The technical certificate is issued upon completion of an inspection designed to ensure that the equipment is able to produce cold and/or to maintain the temperatures required to adequately preserve the foodstuffs during transport.
Renewal of the certificates after 6 and 9 years may be granted only if the equipment owner has applied for it to an authorised professional.
The professional gains authorisation on the basis of the requirements listed in a reference document. These requirements also apply to owners of small containers who carry out the 6- and 9-year renewal process themselves for containers with a technical compliance plate. Testing centres may also carry out the renewal process for small containers less than 2m3 in size on behalf of a third party if this activity is included in the scope of their authorisation.
For small containers, renewal of the official certificate of technical compliance (shown by a plate change on the container) is granted when the testing result is found to be compliant. The testing may have been performed:
- either on an individual basis for each container, or by batches for renewals after 6 years
- necessarily on an individual basis, for certificate renewals after 9 years.
Authorisation takes the form of a certificate of authorisation issued by Cemafroid. The authorised professional files an application for renewal of the certificate via the national Datafrig database, to which he has been given access, after confirmation that the testing results for the equipment are compliant.
Certificate renewal applications filed by authorised testing centres are subject to assessment by Cemafroid, who may refuse to issue the certificate if it deems the application to be unwarranted or incorrect.
In any event, a certificate which has been issued upon completion of a compliant test is valid for 3 years at most. In the special case when there is a new owner and the test is conducted on equipment the construction of which dates back to less than three years, the validity of the issued certificate, by way of departure, is the validity date of the initial certificate.
By way of departure, the authorised testing centres which are located in the French Overseas Departments (DOM) are authorised to file applications for 12-year renewal of the certificate of technical compliance for equipment which have been registered in those departments and tested according to the procedures used for the renewal at 6 and 9 years. The certificate is renewed, in the form of a national certificate valid for up to 3 years after the valid-until date of the previous certificate and up to 15 years of age.
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