Commission controls in Member States
1. Commission experts may, within the scope of this Regulation, perform controls in Member States in order, as appropriate, to:
(a)
verify the application of the rules provided for in this Regulation;
(b)
verify enforcement practices and the functioning of official control systems and of the competent authorities which operate them;
(c)
investigate and collect information:
(i)
on important or recurring problems concerning the application or enforcement of the rules provided for in this Regulation;
(ii)
on emerging problems or new developments in relation to particular practices of operators.
2. The controls provided for in paragraph 1 shall be organised in cooperation with the competent authorities of the Member States.
3. The controls provided for in paragraph 1 may include on the-spot verifications performed in cooperation with the competent authorities performing official controls.
4. Member States' experts may assist the Commission experts. Member States' experts accompanying Commission experts shall be given the same rights of access as those Commission experts.
Reports by the Commission on controls performed by its experts in Member States
1. The Commission shall:
(a)
prepare a draft report on the findings and on the recommendations addressing the shortcomings identified by its experts during the controls provided for in Article 53(1);
(b)
send to the Member State where those controls were performed a copy of the draft report referred to in point (a) for its comments;
(c)
take the comments of the Member State referred to in point (b) of this paragraph into account in preparing the final report on the findings resulting from the controls provided for in Article 53(1) performed by its experts in that Member State;
(d)
make publicly available the final report referred to in point (c) and the comments of the Member State referred to in point (b).
2. Where appropriate, the Commission may, in its final report referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1 of this Article, recommend corrective or preventive action to be taken by the Member States to address the specific or systemic shortcomings identified during the Commission controls performed in accordance with Article 53(1).
Obligations of Member States as regards Commission controls
1. Member States shall:
(a)
at the request of the Commission experts, provide the necessary technical assistance and the available documentation and other technical support to enable those experts to perform the controls referred to in Article 53(1) efficiently and effectively;
(b)
provide necessary assistance to ensure that Commission experts have access to all premises, including parts thereof, and to other places, to equipment and to information, including computerised information management systems, as well as, where appropriate, to breeding animals and the germinal products thereof, necessary to perform the controls referred to in Article 53(1).
2. Member States shall take appropriate follow-up action in the light of the recommendations set out in the final report referred to in Article 54(1)(c) in order to ensure compliance with the rules provided for in this Regulation.
Serious disruption in the control system of a Member State
1. Where the Commission has evidence of a serious disruption in the control system of a Member State and where such disruption may result in a widespread infringement of the rules provided for in this Regulation, it shall adopt implementing acts, laying down one or more of the following:
(a)
special conditions for, or a prohibition on, trade in the breeding animals or the germinal products thereof concerned by the disruption in the official control system;
(b)
any other appropriate temporary measures.
Those implementing acts shall cease to apply once that disruption has been eliminated.
Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 62(2).
2. The measures provided for in paragraph 1 shall be adopted only where the Commission has requested that the Member State concerned correct the situation with an appropriate time limit and the Member State has failed to do so.
3. The Commission shall monitor the situation referred to in paragraph 1 and shall adopt implementing acts, amending or repealing the measures adopted, depending on the way in which the situation develops. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 62(2).
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
