GUIDELINES FOR THE REGISTRATION OF THE TRANSPORTATION ACTIVITY

Article 2 of Spanish Royal Decree 191/2011, of 18 February, concerning the General Sanitary Registry of Food Businesses and Foods includes the transportation activity between food businesses and establishments subject to registration as a new feature with respect to the provision regulating this Registry until the date of publication of this Royal Decree.

1. Rationale for the need for registration in the field of food safety

The aim of the General Sanitary Registry of Food Businesses and Foods (RGSEAA), under the Spanish Food Safety and Nutrition Agency of the Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality, is the protection of public health and consumer interests, facilitating the official control of businesses, establishments and products subject to registration.

Transportation in the food chain is a service which:

• is facilitated by the business that processes, packages, stores, distributes or imports products subject to registration activities and, as the owner of the goods, has its own means of transport.
• is contracted with a transport company which, at no time, is the owner of the goods.

The market should offer a range of businesses with health guarantees and aware of their responsibility as food businesses. Transportation is a stage of the food chain where those responsible are subject to general and specific conditions as per the food safety provisions. The container/ box/ tank where the goods are introduced is a key part (see Appendix), even if it is not considered to fit the concept of “establishment” under the aforementioned Royal Decree.

The said rule provides in its Article 2 for the registration in the RGSEAA of the businesses engaging in this activity, although it does not specify the precise characteristics within such a diverse industry. Therefore, respecting the criteria used for the other businesses in the food chain, the guidelines for registration of the transportation activity are outlined below.

2. Characteristics of the transport companies that are subject to registration in the State General Sanitary Registry of Food Businesses and Foods:

a) The vehicles or containers shall not be registered but instead the companies or self-employed workers that own the latter, providing service to other businesses, but not to the final consumer.

b) Businesses with headquarters in Spain shall be registered. If a business based in other Member State of the European Union voluntarily requests to be registered, it can also be registered under the first additional provision of the rule.

c) The containers or boxes of the means of transport shall not reserved for exclusive food use, with the exception of those destined for the transportation of foods in bulk, such as granulated, powdered or liquid products. The transport companies registered with the RGSEAA shall be registered because they transport foods, materials and objects intended to come into contact with food or processing aids, regardless of the use of their vehicles or containers for a wide range of goods.

d) The company that processes, packages, stores, distributes or imports, if it also transports the goods to customers in its own vehicles, shall be already registered with the RGSEAA and shall not have to register as a transport company. E.g. A company registered under entry 15 as “Distribution of raw milk (cat./ activ. 303)” shall not require to be registered under entry 40 as a transport company.

e) Companies that exclusively perform transport operations at the beginning or at the end of the food chain shall not be registered with the RGSEAA, without prejudice to other type of registrations. This excludes:

• Transportation of primary products, even if they are destined to other establishment within the food chain following primary production.
  
• Home delivery contracted by the final consumer: Whether the transport companies that only provide service to the final consumer or the companies owning the establishment that exclusively process, package, store or serve food products for their sale or on-site delivery to the final consumer, that have their own vehicles and provide home delivery.

It should be pointed out that when the retail company does not have its own means of transport for home delivery, the transport company contracted shall be registered with the RGSEAA.

3. Transport companies subject to registration in terms of the means involved in the food chain:

• Companies that own the mean of transport which forms a whole with the box/ container/ tank (lorry with a cab and a box/ tank attached or a ship whose warehouse can be used for bulk food transportation).
• Companies that own the container/ tank where goods are introduced to be transported on the skeleton of the lorry by road, train, ship or plane. They are:
  • airline transport companies, the Spanish National Railway Network RENFE, road transport companies and shipping companies owning containers, and
  • logistics companies that use containers for their business activity and own them.

4. Procedure for registration and identification of transport companies in the catalogue of the General Sanitary Registry of Food Businesses and Foods

Upon communication to the competent authority of the Autonomous Community for reasons of location of their registered office, pursuant to Article 6 of the aforementioned Royal Decree and in a manner determined by the said Autonomous Community, transport companies shall indicate the type or types of transport of goods carried out within the classification established in terms of health risk:

• 605 - Temperature-controlled transport of food products and foodstuffs (other than granulated, liquid, powdered, bulk foods).
  
• 606 - Transport of food products and foodstuffs without temperature control (other than granulated, liquid, powdered, bulk foods).
  
• 607 – Transport of granulated, liquid, powdered, bulk food products without temperature control.
  
• 608 - Temperature-controlled transport of granulated, liquid, powdered bulk food products.

These companies shall be included under an entry (entry 40) of the nineteen defined for these purposes in the catalogue of business activities subject to registration, defined as STORERS, DISTRIBUTORS, TRANSPORTERS, PACKAGERS AND MULTI-PURPOSE IMPORTERS.

Anexo ( Pdf, 74.1 Kb )