Introductory text

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

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 66 thereof,

Whereas:

Commission Recommendation 2014/180/EU^f2 provides for a second round of coordinated controls to be carried out by the Member States with a view to establishing the continued occurrence of fraudulent practices in the marketing of certain foods.

In order to facilitate the smooth and fast implementation of this plan, the Union should financially support the Member States which perform the official controls provided for in the Commission Recommendation.

Based on calculations following the first round of testing, the cost for carrying out DNA tests to determine the presence of horse meat in foods marketed and/or labelled as containing beef is estimated at EUR 120 per test. The standard Union co-financing rate for coordinated control plans is set at 50 %.

The Centre Wallon de Recherches agronomiques (CRA-W), Gembloux, Belgium has currently EURL status for tests that are most relevant for this coordinated control plan. For the purpose of harmonising the test method during this coordinated control plan, the Commission requested the assistance of this centre. This task is an additional task, not included in the existing work programme this centre performs as an EURL. The cost of this additional task is estimated at maximum EUR 20 000 and should be compensated by the Commission at a rate of 100 %.

In accordance with Article 84 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council^f3 (the Financial Regulation) and Article 94 of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012^f4, the commitment of expenditure from the Union budget shall be preceded by a financing decision setting out the essential elements of the action involving expenditure from the budget and adopted by the institution or the authorities to which powers have been delegated by the institution. Eligibility criteria should be established.

The financial contribution from the Union should be granted subject to the condition that the tests and analyses have been carried out and that the competent authorities supply all the necessary information within the time limits laid down in this Decision. For reasons of administrative efficiency, all expenditure submitted for a financial contribution by the Union should be expressed in euro. The conversion rate for expenditure in a currency other than the euro should be set,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: