In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, establishments preparing foodstuffs must be registered in each Member State. Furthermore, establishments handling products of animal origin for which hygiene conditions are laid down in Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific rules for food of animal origin, must be approved by the competent authority of each Member State. According to Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules, Member States must make up-to-date lists of such establishments available to other Member States and to the public.

In order to assist Member States in making up-to-date lists available to other Member States and to the public, the Commission has created a single, central and easy access to the different lists of approved food establishments published by each Member State.

Every national website is to contain a first page regrouping food activities for which approval is compulsory. For ease of reference, this masterlist is developed following the sequence of the sections in Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004. Technical specifications have been prepared to ensure wide availability of the information concerning these establishments and to improve the readability of the lists. They include layouts, together with relevant information and codes used to describe food activities.

Member States will have to comply with these specifications as from 1 January 2007.