(fra kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/16983 lays down provisions dealing with controls on operators in third countries carried out by control authorities and control bodies recognised pursuant to Article 46(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/848 and establishes the rules on the verification of the consignments intended for import into the Union to be carried out by those control authorities and control bodies. 

(2) Pursuant to Article 8 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1698, high-risk products originating from third countries are to be listed in an implementing act adopted in accordance with Article 46(8) of Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on the basis of a selection made after major, critical or repetitive cases of non-compliance affecting the integrity of organic or in-conversion products or their production. 

(3) The list of high-risk products may therefore currently be established only on the basis of established cases of non-compliance affecting the integrity of organic or inconversion products at any stage of production, preparation and distribution. 

(4) Article 46(8) of Regulation (EU) 2018/848 provides that the Commission may adopt implementing acts to ensure the application of the measures to be taken in relation to cases of both established and suspected non-compliance. 

(5) A specific organic or in-conversion product and its third country of origin should be inserted in the list of high-risk products where this product has been involved in major, critical or repetitive cases of non-compliance with Regulation (EU) 2018/848 and that those cases have been established by the control authority or the control body as noncompliances affecting the integrity of the product. Article 22(3) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1698 lays down criteria for the classification of a noncompliance as major, critical or repetitive non-compliance. 

(6) Many suspected cases of non-compliance affecting the integrity of organic or inconversion products never become established. The reason is that the control authority or control body carrying out an investigation in the third country concerned upon notification by a Member State in the Organic Farming Information System (OFIS) cannot substantiate the cases due to a lack of sufficient information on the source or the cause of the contamination, but where suspicion nevertheless persists. 

(7) It is therefore appropriate that the high-risk products and the third countries in which they originate should be listed on the basis of a selection made after both established and suspected major, critical or repetitive cases of non-compliance that affect the integrity of organic or in-conversion products or production. 

(8) Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/1698 should therefore be amended accordingly,