Additional requirements for the entry into the Union of food-producing animals and goods from a third country or region thereof
Article 4
In addition to the requirements laid down in Article 127(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, the Commission shall only decide on the inclusion of third countries or regions thereof in the list referred to in Article 126(2), point (a), of that Regulation if the following requirements are recognised by the Commission as being at least equivalent to the relevant requirements in the Union for the food-producing animals and goods referred to in Article 3 of this Regulation: (a) the legislation of the third country on: (i) the production of products of animal origin; (ii) the use of veterinary medicinal products, including rules on their prohibition or authorisation, their distribution, their placing on the market and the rules covering administration and inspection; (iii) the preparation and use of feed, including the procedures for using additives and the preparation and use of medicated feedingstuffs, as well as the hygiene quality of the raw materials used for preparing feedingstuffs and of the final product; (b) the hygiene conditions of production, manufacture, handling, storage and dispatch currently applied to products of animal origin destined for the Union; (c) any experience of marketing of the products of animal origin from the third country and the results of any official controls on entry in the Union; (d) when available, the results of audits carried out by the Commission in the third country related to other food-producing animals and goods for which the third country is already listed in accordance with Article 127(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, in particular the results of the assessment of the competent authorities in the third country audited, and the action that the competent authorities have taken in the light of any recommendations addressed to them following such audits by the Commission; (e) the existence, implementation and communication of a zoonoses control programme approved by the Commission when applicable; (f) the third country’s requirements as regards pharmacologically active substances, pesticides and contaminants, in accordance with Article 6.