General rules on official controls
Article 9
1. Competent authorities shall perform official controls on all operators regularly, on a risk basis and with appropriate frequency, taking account of: (a) identified risks associated with: (i) animals and goods; (ii) the activities under the control of operators; (iii) the location of the activities or operations of operators; (iv) the use of products, processes, materials or substances that may influence food safety, integrity and wholesomeness, or feed safety, animal health or animal welfare, plant health or, in the case of GMOs and plant protection products, that may also have an adverse impact on the environment; (b) any information indicating the likelihood that consumers might be misled, in particular as to the nature, identity, properties, composition, quantity, durability, country of origin or place of provenance, method of manufacture or production of food; (c) operators’ past record as regards the outcome of official controls performed on them and their compliance with the rules referred to in Article 1(2); (d) the reliability and results of own controls that have been performed by the operators, or by a third party at their request, including, where appropriate, private quality assurance schemes, for the purpose of ascertaining compliance with the rules referred to in Article 1(2); and (e) any information that might indicate non-compliance with the rules referred to in Article 1(2). 2. Competent authorities shall perform official controls regularly, with appropriate frequencies determined on a risk basis, to identify possible intentional violations of the rules referred to in Article 1(2), perpetrated through fraudulent or deceptive practices, and taking into account information regarding such violations shared through the mechanisms of administrative assistance provided for in Articles 102 to 108 and any other information pointing to the possibility of such violations. 3. Official controls that are performed prior to the placing on the market, or the movement of certain animals and goods in view of the issuance of the official certificates or official attestations required by the rules referred to in Article 1(2), as a condition for the placing on the market or the movement of the animals or goods shall be performed in accordance with both of the following: (a) the rules referred to in Article 1(2); (b) the applicable delegated and implementing acts adopted by the Commission in accordance with Articles 18 to 27. 4. Official controls shall be performed without prior notice, except where such notice is necessary and duly justified for the official control to be carried out. As regards official controls upon request from the operator, the competent authority may decide whether the official controls are to be performed with or without prior notice. Official controls with prior notice shall not preclude official controls without prior notice. 5. Official controls shall be performed as much as possible in such a manner that the administrative burden and operational disruption for operators are kept to the minimum necessary, but without this negatively affecting the effectiveness of those controls. 6. Competent authorities shall perform official controls in the same manner, while taking account of the need to adapt the controls to the specific situations, irrespective of whether the animals and goods concerned are: (a) available on the Union market, whether originating in the Member State where the official controls are performed or in another Member State; (b) to be exported from the Union; or (c) entering the Union. 7. To the extent strictly necessary for the organisation of the official controls, Member States of destination may require operators that have animals or goods delivered to them from another Member State to report the arrival of such animals or goods.