Article 46

Commission experts may carry out official controls in third countries in order to verify, on the basis of the information referred to in Article 47(1), the compliance or equivalence of third country legislation and systems with Community feed and food law and Community animal health legislation. The Commission may appoint experts from Member States to assist its own experts. Such official controls shall have particular regard to: the legislation of the third country; the organisation of the third country's competent authorities, their powers and independence, the supervision to which they are subject and the authority they have to enforce the applicable legislation effectively; the training of staff in the performance of official controls; the resources including diagnostic facilities available to competent authorities; the existence and operation of documented control procedures and control systems based on priorities; where applicable, the situation regarding animal health, zoonoses and plant health, and procedures for notifying the Commission and relevant international bodies of outbreaks of animal and plant diseases; the extent and operation of official controls on imports of animals, plants and their products; the assurances which the third country can give regarding compliance with, or equivalence to, Community requirements. In order to facilitate the efficiency and effectiveness of the controls in a third country, the Commission may, in advance of carrying out such controls, request that the third country concerned provide the information referred to in Article 47(1) and, where appropriate, the written records on the implementation of such controls. The frequency of Community controls in third countries shall be determined on the basis of: a risk assessment of the products exported to the Community; the provisions of Community legislation; the volume and nature of imports from the country concerned; the results of controls that the Commission services or other inspection bodies have already carried out; the results of import controls and of any other controls that competent authorities of Member States have carried out; information received from the European Food Safety Authority or similar bodies; information received from internationally recognised bodies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), or from other sources; evidence of emerging disease situations or other circumstances that might result in live animals, live plants or feed or food imported from a third country presenting health risks; the need to investigate or respond to emergency situations in individual third countries. The criteria for determining risk for the purpose of the risk assessment referred to in point (a) shall be decided in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 62(3). The procedure and detailed rules for controls in third countries may be determined or amended in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 62(3). They shall include, in particular, procedures for and detailed rules on: controls in third countries in the context of a bilateral agreement; controls in other third countries. According to the same procedure, charges for the abovementioned controls may be established on a reciprocal basis. If, during a Community control, a serious risk to human or animal health is identified, the Commission shall immediately take any necessary emergency measures in accordance with Article 53 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 or safeguard provisions in other relevant Community legislation. The Commission shall report on the findings of each Community control carried out. Its report shall, if appropriate, contain recommendations. The Commission shall make its reports publicly available. The Commission shall communicate its programme of controls in third countries to Member States in advance and report on the results. It may amend the programme to take account of developments in the fields of feed and food safety, animal health and plant health.

← art_45__para_6__text_1 · All articles · 1. →

Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-01 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.