Article 7

Once the checks are concluded, the Commission's experts shall inform the Member State concerned orally of their conclusions and, where necessary, of the corrective measures they deem necessary and their degree of urgency.

The Commission shall confirm the results of the checks within 20 working days in a written report, subject to the receipt of any additional information requested during the checks but not available at that time.

The Member State shall give its comments within 25 working days of the receipt of the written report from the Commission.

However, in the event of an emergency, or where a significant risk to health or animal welfare has been identified during the on-the-spot check, the Member State shall be informed of the findings of the mission in a written report as quickly as possible and in any case within ten working days of the end of the mission. The Member State shall also give its comments as quickly as possible and in any case within ten working days of the receipt of the written report from the Commission.

In providing information on the findings of missions, the Commission shall in particular comply with the requirements laid down in Article 214 of the Treaty.

These provisions are without prejudice to the powers of the Commission to take interim protection measures under the provisions of Community legislation in the veterinary field.

The Member State shall take the corrective measures to take account of the results of the checks carried out.

If, during checks, the Commission experts discover significant instances of non-compliance with Community legislation in a Member State or in one or more regions of that Member State, the latter must, at the request of the Commission, thoroughly investigate the general situation in the area concerned. If appropriate, the Member State, after consultation with the Commission, may restrict the investigation to the region(s) concerned by the programme of checks; it shall notify the Commission within the time set by the latter of the results of the checks and of the measures taken to remedy the situation.

If, after the checks, appropriate corrective measures are not taken by the Member State concerned within the prescribed period, in particular where the checks have revealed a serious public-health or animal-health or animal-welfare risk, the Commission shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 17 of Council Directive 89/662/EEC^f1, take all the measures which it deems necessary.