Article 15 Official controlsF1

By 2 January 2016, F2the Secretary of State shall have in place fully functioning structures to carry out the official controls necessary to prevent the intentional introduction into F3Great Britain of invasive alien species F4of special concern. Those official controls shall apply to the categories of goods falling within the Combined Nomenclature codes to which a reference is made in the F5list of species of special concern, pursuant to Article 4(5).

Competent authorities shall carry out the appropriate risk-based controls to the goods mentioned in paragraph 1 of this Article verifying that:

The controls referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, consisting of documentary, identity and where necessary, physical checks, shall take place when goods referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article are brought into Great Britain. F6In paragraphs 4 to 6 and 8, “the competent authority” means the authority responsible for carrying out the official controls mentioned in paragraph 2.

The handling in free zones or free warehouses and the placing of goods referred to in paragraph 1 under the customs procedures of release for free circulation, transit, customs warehousing, inward processing, processing under customs control and temporary admission shall be subject to the declaration to the customs authorities of:

Those documents may also be submitted electronically.

If the controls establish non-compliance with this Regulation:

Where goods are detained, they shall be entrusted to the competent authority in charge of applying this Regulation. That authority shall act in accordance with national legislation. F14The Secretary of State may delegate specific functions to other authorities.

Costs incurred while the verification is carried out and those arising from any non-compliance shall be at the expense of the natural or legal person within Great Britain who brought the goods into Great BritainF15....

F16The Secretary of States shall put in place procedures to ensure the exchange of relevant information and the efficient and effective coordination and cooperation between all authorities involved for the verification referred to in paragraph 2.

Based on best practices, F17the Secretary of State, together with the competent authority, must develop guidelines and training programmes to facilitate the identification and detection of invasive alien species F18of special concern and the performance of efficient and effective controls.

Where permits have been issued in accordance with Article 8, reference to a valid permit covering the declared goods shall be made in the customs declaration or relevant notifications to the border entity.