Non-Compliance as an Issue on EU Food Safety Regulations

Food safety, as an policy field of the European Union, has been the subject of intense modifications during the last decade. In particular EU's unfortunate role during the BSE crisis by the beginning of the century has revealed the necessity for a realignment of EU responsibilities on the issue of food safety. Nonetheless the current EU approach in this policy field is still undermined by a variety of domestic approaches of its member states. By way of example, in October 2009 the European Commission has moved to the next stage in the infringement proceedings against five member states which despite a warning letter have failed to introduce EU food safety legislation into their legal systems. This research aims to identify the reasons why some member states have difficulties to comply with certain EU directives in the field of food safety regulations whilst policy integration in other member states preceded comparatively easy.