Union Inspection Committee
1. The Union Inspection Committee (‘the Committee’) shall be responsible for carrying out on-the-spot inspections covering:
(a)
the application of the Union scales for the classification of beef, pig and sheep carcasses;
(b)
the recording of market prices according to those classification scales;
(c)
the classification, identification and marking of products within the framework of the buying-in under public intervention in the beef and veal sector.
2. The Committee shall be composed of at most:
(a)
three Commission experts, one of whom shall act as chairman of the Committee;
(b)
one expert from the Member State concerned;
(c)
eight experts from other Member States.
The Member States shall appoint experts on the basis of their independence and ability, particularly in matters of classification of carcasses and recording of market prices and of the specific nature of the work to be carried out.
Experts shall not under any circumstances use for personal purposes or divulge information obtained in connection with the work of the Committee.
3. Travel and subsistence expenses of members of the Committee linked to the on-the-spot inspections shall be borne by the Commission in accordance with the rules applicable to the reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses of persons unconnected with the Commission who are called upon by it to act as experts.
On-the-spot inspections
1. On-the-spot inspections shall be carried out at slaughterhouses, meat markets, intervention centres, price quotation centres and regional and central services implementing the provisions concerning:
(a)
the application of the Union scales for the classification of beef, pig and sheep carcasses;
(b)
the recording of market prices according to those classification scales;
(c)
the classification, identification and marking of products within the framework of the buying-in under public intervention in the beef and veal sector.
2. The on-the-spot inspections shall be carried out at regular intervals in Member States and their frequency may vary, in particular, according to the relative volume of beef, pig and sheep production in the visited Member States or to irregularities linked to the application of the classification scales and reporting of market prices.
Representatives of the visited Member State may take part in the on-the-spot-inspections.
Each Member State shall organise the on-the-spot inspections to be carried out on its territory according to the requirements set by the Commission. To that end, the Member State shall forward to the Commission, 60 days before the on-the-spot inspections at the latest, the draft programme of the proposed on-the-spot inspections. The Commission may request any amendment to the programme.
The Commission shall inform Member States, as far in advance as possible before each on-the-spot inspection, of the amendments to the programme and the conduct thereof.
Reports
On completion of each visit, the members of the Committee and the representatives of the visited Member State shall meet to consider the results. The members of the Committee shall draw conclusions from the on-the-spot inspection concerning:
(a)
the application of the Union scales for the classification of beef, pig and sheep carcasses;
(b)
the recording of market prices according to those classification scales.
The Committee chairman shall draw up a report on the on-the-spot inspections conducted containing the conclusions referred to in the first subparagraph. The report shall be sent at the earliest possibility to the inspected Member State and to the other Member States, subsequently.
In the case of reports on on-the-spot inspection referred to in the second subparagraph carried out in a Member State, the Commission shall provide the relevant competent authority with a draft report for comments, take those comments into consideration in preparing the final report and publish the competent authority's comments together with the final report.
When the report on the on-the-spot inspections conducted notes shortcomings in the various fields of activity which were the subject of the inspection, or makes recommendations with a view to improving operations, the Member States shall inform the Commission of all changes which are envisaged or have taken place not later than three months after the date on which the report was transmitted.
