Import control of agricultural products

Subject: Import control of agricultural products

The parliamentary question as to what protection measures may be taken by Member States to prevent the import of agricultural products which are treated with non-EU-approved agrochemicals was answered in response E-006464/2016, which stated that ‘comprehensive EU legislation ensures that the food imported into the EU is in line with EU safety standards. Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 and Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 provide the measures to achieve said objectives. When necessary, more stringent measures can be adopted for specific products. Member States are responsible for the implementation of those regulations’. After introducing border control in order to determine whether fruit and vegetables entering our market from third countries are in line with the safety standards, the Republic of Croatia was exposed to pressures, inter alia by the EU, that those measures must be interrupted, which eventually came to pass.

1. Is Croatia able to carry out controls of agricultural products which enter our market from third countries in order to determine their compliance with safety standards and is it able to regulate the conditions of that control on its own?

2. If Croatia believes that agricultural products from other EU Member States do not comply with safety standards, can it carry out additional controls of the products concerned?

Answer given by Mr Andriukaitis on behalf of the European Commission (12 September 2018)

1. Further to the controls carried out under specific measures, such as Regulation 669/2009 (1), Member States may carry out additional controls on imported food or feed products of non-animal origin to determine their compliance with safety standards.

Based on the requirements of Regulation 882/2004 (2), these controls have to be carried out regularly, on the basis of multi-annual control plans and in light of the respective risks. Member States are given the possibility to carry out those controls at an appropriate place of the feed and food chain of their choice. These controls must include at least a systematic documentary check, a random identity check and, as appropriate, a physical check.

In particular, to ensure compliance with EU maximum residue levels (MRLs) for pesticide residues, Member States carry out controls on food in line with Regulation 396/2005 (3). These controls are performed by Member States under a coordinated multiannual Union control programme and under multiannual national control programmes, which target imported and domestically-produced food.

2. Based on the requirements of Regulation 882/2004, official controls have to be carried out regularly, on a risk basis and with appropriate frequency, and at all stages of production, processing and distribution. In particular Member States must take all the necessary measures to ensure that products sent to another Member State are controlled with the same care as those intended for their market.

The competent Authorities of the Member State of destination may check compliance of feed and food with feed and food law by means of non-discriminatory checks.

⋅1∙ http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32009R0669&from=EN

⋅2∙ http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:165:0001:0141:EN:PDF

⋅3∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32005R0396&rid=1