Division 6.1 Guiding Principles: (a) Compliance with planned arrangements; (b) Effective implementation; (c) Suitability to achieve objectives

To comply with the requirements of Article 4(6) of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004, the audit system should cover the following three points set out in Article 2(6):

1. (a)

   Verification of compliance with planned arrangements in order to provide assurances that official controls are carried out as intended and that any instructions or guidelines given to staff carrying out the controls are followed. This may largely be addressed by document review, but will also require on-site verification. The audit team will require good generic audit knowledge and skills to address this audit objective.

2. (b)

   Verification of the effective implementation of planned arrangements. In order to assess effectiveness, that is the extent to which planned results are achieved, on-site operational implementation must be included. This should include an assessment of the quality and consistency of the controls and should involve on-site audit activities. The audit team will require the relevant technical expertise in order to address this audit objective.

3. (c)

   The audit system should also seek to assess whether the planned arrangements are suitable to achieve the objectives of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004, and in particular the single integrated multi-annual national control plan. This should include assessing the suitability of official controls, with regard, for example, to their frequency and the methods applied, having regard to the structure of the production chain(s) and to production practices and volume. The audit team should have substantial knowledge and understanding of system auditing, together with relevant technical input to address this audit objective.

In order to determine whether the planned arrangements are suitable to achieve the objectives set out in (c) above, the following should be considered:

Audit criteria should include strategic objectives stemming from Regulations (EC) No 178/2002 and (EC) No 882/2004 (including the single integrated multi-annual national control plan) and national legislation.

The primary focus of audits should be the control arrangements relating to the critical points for control in the production chain(s). The emphasis should be on assessing whether planned arrangements are capable of delivering sufficient guarantees on (a) the safety of the end-product(s) and (b) compliance with other feed and food law requirements and with animal health and welfare rules. In order to achieve this, audit(s) should where possible extend beyond and across administrative boundaries.