Commission Decision of 16 March 2011 on the approval of plans submitted by third countries in accordance with Article 29 of Council Directive 96/23/EC (notified under document C(2011) 1630) (Text with EEA relevance) (2011/163/EU)

[F1 Article 2a U.K. Matters relating to the exercise of powers under this Decision

1. The powers exercisable by the Secretary of State, with the consent of the Scottish Ministers (in relation to Scotland) and the Welsh Ministers (in relation to Wales), under Article 1(1)(a) and (b) may be exercised only where it is necessary or appropriate to do so in the light of an assessment of the risk to animal or public health in the United Kingdom, taking into account the matters specified in this Article.

2. Any assessment which is relied on for the purposes of paragraph 1 must be appropriate to the circumstances and have been approved by the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers (in relation to Scotland) and the Welsh Ministers (in relation to Wales).

3. For the purpose of submission for approval under paragraph 2, an assessment of a residue monitoring plan submitted by the central competent authority of the third country must take into account the extent to which it complies with the regulatory requirements in the United Kingdom and must set out the following information—

(a) legislation on the use of the substances listed in Annex 1 to Directive 96/23/EC and, in particular, provisions on their prohibition or authorisation, distribution and placing on the market and the rules governing their administration, in so far as that legislation is different from that in force in the United Kingdom;

(b) the infrastructure of the relevant competent authorities in the third country (with, in particular, details of the type and size of the bodies involved in implementing the plans);

(c) a list of approved laboratories, with details of their capacity for processing samples;

(d) national tolerances for authorised substances in cases where no maximum United Kingdom residue levels have been set under Regulation (EC) No 470/2009;

(e) a list of the substances to be detected, methods of analysis, standards for interpreting the findings and, in the case of the substances listed in Annex 1 to Directive 96/23/EC, the number of samples to be taken, and the reasons for this number;

(f) the number of official samples to be taken in relation to the number of animals of the species concerned slaughtered in preceding years in accordance with the frequencies laid down in Annex 4 to Directive 96/23/EC;

(g) details of the rules governing the collection of official samples, and in particular the rules concerning the particulars to appear on official samples;

(h) the type of measures laid down by the competent authorities in the third country with regard to animals or products in which residues have been detected;

(i) confirmation that the relevant competent authority of the third country coordinates the activities of the central and regional departments responsible for monitoring the various residues to prevent the fraudulent or unlawful use of substances or products on stock farms;

(j) confirmation that the relevant competent authority of the third country collects residue monitoring data needed to evaluate the means used and the results, and will supply a report of the data to the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers and the Welsh Ministers annually by 31st March each year.

4. The plan must provide for the detection of groups of residues or substances according to type of animal, in accordance with Annex 2 to Directive 96/23/EC, and in accordance with the sampling rules and levels set down in Annex 3 and Annex 4 to that Directive, and must specify in particular the measures for the detection of—

(a) the relevant substances in animals in accordance with Annex 2 to that Directive, or in the drinking water, and in all places where animals are bred or kept;

(b) residues of such substances found in live animals, their excrement and body fluids or in animal tissues, meat, milk, eggs or honey.

5. Compliance with the requirements of, and adherence to the assurances offered by, the plans submitted by third countries must be verified by means of checks carried out by the relevant competent authority in the third country, and, where such checks reveal the use of unauthorised products or substances for the treatment of the animals in a given batch, or the presence of such products or substances in all or part of a batch originating in the same establishment, the Secretary of State, the Scottish Ministers and the Welsh Ministers may—

(a) impose remedial measures, after making enquiries of the competent authorities of the third country and concluding that the third country has failed to fulfil its obligations and the assurances in the residue monitoring plan;

(b) send United Kingdom experts to visit the third country, at that country’s expense, in order to verify that remedial measures have been taken.

6. A third country (“TC1”) using raw material imported from another third country approved for production of food of animal origin in accordance with Commission Decision 2011/163/EU and which is unable to provide a residue monitoring plan, must provide an assurance that animal products for human consumption exported to Great Britain must only come from establishments approved by the competent authority of TC1 as having reliable procedures in place.

7. Where the Scottish Ministers or the Welsh Ministers request that the Secretary of State exercise a power under Article 1(1)(a) or (b) the Secretary of State must have regard to that request.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Art. 2a inserted (1.7.2022) by The Import of Animals and Animal Products and Approved Countries (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/735), regs. 1(2), 12(4)