Germany:Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety

Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety

Name	Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety
Acronym	BVL
Activities	Risikomanagement, RASFF-Kontaktstelle
Responsibilities
Seat	Braunschweig und Berlin
URL	http://www.bvl.bund.de/

The main focus of the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) is on risk management. In the field of food safety the BVL supports the cooperation between the BMEL, BMUB and the federal states. Together with the federal states, the BVL coordinates programmes for inspection and control of food to ensure comparable results and procedures in all 16 federal states of Germany. The BVL is the national contact point for the Rapid Alert System (RASFF) of the European Union. In times of crisis, it serves as a situation centre for the crisis management group of the BMEL.

The BVL is the regulatory authority for plant protection products and veterinary medicinal products. In its decision-making process the BVL normally draws on BfR risk assessments. Based on risk assessments by other authorities, the BVL decides on applications for the experimental scientific cultivation of genetically modified plants. Furthermore, the BVL is involved in the EU marketing authorisation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and feed.

The European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL) for residues of veterinary medicines and contaminants in food of animal origin and eight National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) are attached to the BVL pursuant to Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004.

In addition to food safety, the activity of the BVL extends, amongst other things, to cosmetics and commodities which come into contact with food for human consumption.