BAKGRUNN (fra kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Regulation (EU) 2017/625 establishes the framework for official controls and other official activities to verify compliance with the Union agri-food chain legislation. That framework includes official controls performed on animals and goods entering the Union. 

(2) Article 47(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 requires Member States to perform official controls at designated border control posts on each consignment of the categories of animals and goods referred to in that provision. For such animals and goods, each consignment is to be pre-notified and checked at border control posts using the Common Health Entry Document (CHED) referred to in Article 56 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625. The CHED is to be submitted into the information management system for official controls (IMSOC) set up and managed by the Commission in accordance with Article 131(1) of that Regulation. 

(3) Pursuant to Article 44 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, Member States are to perform official controls regularly, on a risk basis and with appropriate frequency, on animals and goods entering the Union to which Articles 47 and 48 of that Regulation do not apply. The appropriate frequency is to be determined taking into account the criteria laid down in Article 44(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 and for plant protection products also the criteria established in Article 24(2) of that Regulation. Where performed, such official controls always are to include a documentary check and are to include identity checks and physical checks depending on the risk to human, animal or plant health, animal welfare or, as regards genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and plant protection products, also to the environment.

(4) In accordance with Article 44(3), point (b), of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, official controls on the goods entering the Union from third countries to which Articles 47 and 48 of that Regulation do not apply are to be carried out, amongst other places, at a border control post. 

(5) Certain goods entering the Union from third countries pose risks to human, animal or plant health, animal welfare or, as regards GMOs and plant protection products, also to the environment. Information on the legislation of third countries in a particular sector, on the performance by the competent authorities of third countries of adequate official controls in that sector, or any other relevant information from bilateral contacts with third countries allows the competent authorities of Member States to assess the history of compliance with the requirements established by the rules referred to in Article 1(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 applicable to the goods concerned. 

(6) Where the competent authorities at the border control post perform official controls on those goods, the official controls are to include documentary checks, identity checks and physical checks. In order to enable the competent authorities to organise those checks in an efficient manner that prevents introducing risks into the Union, the competent authorities should be able to receive in advance standardised information describing the consignments in sufficient detail to allow the competent authorities to immediately and completely identify the consignments, their destination and intended use. 

(7) It is therefore appropriate to supplement Regulation (EU) 2017/625 in accordance with Article 45(4) of that Regulation and specify the cases where and the conditions under which the competent authorities of the Member States may request operators to notify the arrival of consignments of certain goods from third countries. The determination of those cases and conditions should be based on an assessment of the risks to human, animal or plant health, animal welfare or, as regards GMOs and plant protection products, also to the environment, associated with the goods concerned, or the history of compliance with the requirements established by the rules referred to in Article 1(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 applicable to the goods concerned. Moreover, notifications of arrival should concern consignments of goods that are subject to official controls at border control posts in accordance with Article 44(3), point (b), of Regulation (EU) 2017/625. 

(8) Having regard to Article 133(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, notifications of arrival are to be carried out by way of the IMSOC. In order to facilitate timely exchanges of data between competent authorities performing sanitary and phytosanitary checks and customs authorities, including exchanges via electronic means, the operator responsible for the consignment should notify the arrival of that consignment by completing and submitting the relevant data in the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) in the IMSOC, for transmission to the competent authorities at the border control posts of first arrival into the Union and for access to the data by customs authorities in accordance with Article 38(1), point (b), of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1715. 

(9) The operator responsible for the consignment should provide a description of the consignment in sufficient detail in the notification of arrival to allow the competent authorities to immediately and completely identify the consignment, their destination and intended use, such as human consumption, feedstuff, sample, display exhibition item, food contact materials, plant protection products or other. In addition, the operator responsible for the consignment should, by means of a declaration, certify that the information provided in the notification of arrival is true and complete. To facilitate the procedure and for reasons of legal certainty, the information should be provided using a standardised format. 

(10) In the standardised format used to describe the consignment, operators responsible for the consignment should be able to indicate that those consignment are to be transferred to onward transportation facilities which have been designated in accordance with Article 9 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/2124. Operators responsible for the consignment should also be able to indicate that consignment are to be transferred to customs warehouses referred to in Article 240(1) of Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council or to a temporary storage facility referred to in Article 147(1) of that Regulation. Operators should describe the consignment with reference to the Combined Nomenclature (CN) code and title provided for in Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 and the integrated tariff of the European Union (TARIC) code. 

(11) Pursuant to Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, competent authorities are to draw up written records of every official control that they perform, on paper or in electronic form. In order to facilitate the performance of official controls and of customs controls, the competent authorities at the border control posts should be able to add the written records of the official controls performed on the consignments and any decisions taken on that basis, including the decision to reject a consignment, in the notification of arrival submitted in TRACES. 

(12) To ensure an adequate level of security of electronic means of identification and electronic certification and to digitalise and harmonise the procedure, the use of an electronic notification of arrival submitted in TRACES should meet the standards for electronic signatures and electronic seals with their different levels of identity assurance set by Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/1506. 

(13) It is appropriate to provide for a deferred date of application of this Regulation having regard to the time needed to ensure the connection of TRACES in respect of the notification of arrival provided for in this Regulation with the electronic European Union Customs Single Window Certificates Exchange System established by Regulation (EU) 2022/2399 of the European Parliament and of the Council8 ,