Assessment of the requests and publication of the lists
1. The Commission shall examine the requests received in accordance with Articles 4, 8 and 11 with the assistance of the Committee on organic production, referred to in Article 37(1) of Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 (hereafter called ‘the Committee’). For this purposes the Committee shall adopt specific internal rules of procedure.
In order to assist the Commission with the examination of the requests and with the management and review of the lists, the Commission shall set up an expert group consisting of governmental and private experts.
2. For each request received, and after appropriate consultation with Member States in accordance with the specific internal rules of procedure, the Commission shall nominate two Member States to act as co-reporters. The Commission shall divide the requests between the Member States proportionally with the number of votes of each Member State in the Committee on organic production. The co-reporting Member States shall examine the documentation and information as set out in Articles 4, 8 and 11 related to the request and shall draw up a report. For the management and review of the lists, they shall also examine the annual reports and any other information referred to in Articles 5, 9 and 12 related to the entries on the lists.
3. Taking into account the result of the examination by the co-reporting Member States, the Commission shall decide, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 37(2) of Regulation (EC) No 834/2007, on the recognition of third countries, control bodies or control authorities, their inclusion on the lists or any modification of the lists, including the attribution of a code number to those bodies and authorities. The decisions shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union .
4. The Commission shall make the lists available to the public by any appropriate technical means, including publication on the Internet.
Communication
1. When transmitting documents or other information referred to in Articles 32 and 33 of Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 and in this Regulation to the Commission or the Member States, the competent authorities of third countries, the control authorities or the control bodies shall use electronic transmission. When specific electronic transmission systems are made available by the Commission or the Member States, they shall use these systems. The Commission and the Member States shall also use these systems to provide each other with concerned documents.
2. For the form and content of documents and information referred to in Articles 32 and 33 of Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 and in this Regulation, the Commission shall set out guidelines, models and questionnaires where appropriate and make them available in the computer system referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. These guidelines, models and questionnaires shall be adapted and updated by the Commission, after having informed the Member States and the competent authorities of third countries, as well as the control authorities and control bodies recognised in accordance with this Regulation.
3. The computer system provided for in paragraph 1 shall be able to collect the requests, documents and information referred to in this Regulation where appropriate, including the authorisations granted pursuant to Article 19.
4. The supporting documents referred to in Articles 32 and 33 of Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 and in this Regulation, in particular in Articles 4, 8 and 11, shall be kept by the competent authorities of third countries, the control authorities or the control bodies at the disposal of the Commission and the Member States for at least three years following the year in which the controls took place or the certificates of inspection and documentary evidence were delivered.
5. Where a document or procedure provided for in Articles 32 and 33 of Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 or in the detailed rules for its application requires the signature of an authorised person or the approval of a person at one or more of the stages of that procedure, the computer systems set up for the communication of those documents must make it possible to identify each person unambiguously and provide reasonable assurance that the contents of the documents, including as regards the stages of the procedure, cannot be altered, in accordance with Community legislation, and in particular with Commission Decision 2004/563/EC, Euratom.
