Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard 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^f1, and in particular Article 44(2) thereof,

Whereas:

Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 lays down general rules for the performance of official controls by the Community or the competent authority of the Member States to verify compliance with rules concerning feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules.

Pursuant to Article 1(3) of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 that Regulation is to be without prejudice to specific Community provisions concerning official controls.

Article 41 of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 provides that each Member State is to prepare a single integrated multiannual national control plan to ensure the effective implementation of Article 17(2) of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety^f2, of animal health and animal welfare rules and of Article 45 of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 (‘the national control plan’).

The purpose of the national control plans is also to establish a solid basis for Community controls in the Member States.

Article 27a of Council Directive 2000/29/EC of 8 May 2000 on protective measures against the introduction into the Community of organisms harmful to plants or plant products and against their spread within the Community^f3 provides that Articles 41 to 46 of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 concerning national control plans, annual reports, and Community controls in Member States and third countries are to apply, as appropriate, in order to ensure the effective implementation of that Directive.

Article 43(1)(e) of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 provides that the Commission is to draw up guidelines encouraging the adoption of best practices at all levels of the control systems.

Article 43(1)(j) of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 provides that the Commission is to draw up guidelines laying down the structure of, and information to be included in the annual reports provided for in Article 44 of that Regulation

Article 44(1) of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 provides that Member States are to submit to the Commission an annual report on the implementation of the national control plan. That report is to be submitted annually commencing one year after starting the implementation of the national control plans. In addition, Article 44(1) sets out the information to be provided in the annual reports.

Article 44(2) of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 provides that the information to be submitted in the annual reports is to take account of guidelines, to be drawn up by the Commission in order to promote a consistent presentation of such reports. The guidelines are not binding but serve to provide useful guidance to the Member States in the implementation of that Regulation.

Article 45 of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 provides that Community audits are to be carried out in the Member States on a regular basis mainly in order to verify that official controls are carried out in accordance with the national control plans and in compliance with Community law.

The Commission is to keep the guidelines set out in this Decision under review and update them, as necessary, following the receipt and examination of the Member States annual reports, taking account of conclusions and recommendations contained in the annual report to be established by the Commission pursuant to Article 44(4) of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 and in the light of the experience of the Member States in implementing that Regulation.

For the purposes of the guidelines set out in this Decision, the ongoing work of Eurostat in the context of the Community statistical programme in developing a ‘control and monitoring activities’ database which comprises various classification schemes, including harmonised terms and definitions for feed and food data management should be taken into account.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: