COMMISSION DELEGA TED REGUL ATION (EU) 2019/1012 
of 12 March 2019 
supplementing Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council by 
derogating from the rules on the designation of control points and from the minimum 
requirements for border control pos ts 
(Text with EEA relevance) 
THE EUR OPEAN COMMISSION, 
Having regar d to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, 
Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 Marc h 2017 on 
official controls and other official activities performe d to ensure the application of food and feed law, rules on animal 
health and welfa re, plant health and plant prote ction products, amending Regulations (EC) No 999/2001, (EC) 
No 396/2005, (EC) No 1069/2009, (EC) No 1107/2009, (EU) No 1151/2012, (EU) No 652/2014, (EU) 2016/429 and 
(EU) 2016/2031 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 and (EC) 
No 1099/2009 and Council Directives 98/58/EC, 1999/74/EC, 2007/43/EC, 2008/119/EC and 2008/120/EC, and 
repealing Regulations (EC) No 854/2004 and (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, 
Council Directives 89/608/EEC, 89/662/EEC, 90/425/EEC, 91/496/EEC, 96/23/EC, 96/93/EC and 97/78/EC and Council 
Decision 92/438/EEC (Off icial Controls Regulation) (1), and in particular Article 62(3) and Article 64(2) and (5) thereof, 
Whereas: 
(1)  Regulation (EU) 2017/625 establishes, inter alia, the framewor k for the performa nce of official controls and other 
official activities on animals and goods entering the Union from third countr ies to verify compl iance with Union 
legislation in order to protect human, animal and plant health, animal welfare and, in relation to genetically 
modified organisms (GMO) and plant protection products, also the environment. It provides that official controls 
are to be performe d on certain consignments of animals and goods at the border control post of first arrival into 
the Union. To that end, Member States are to designate border control posts. 
(2)  Regulation (EU) 2017/625 provid es that Member State s are to notify the Commission before designating border 
control posts, so that the Commission can verify and, where necessar y, carry out controls to check if they 
compl y with the minimum requirements for the designation laid down therein. Regulation (EU) 2017/625 
emp owers the Commission to lay down certain detailed rules on these minimum requirements. Those detailed 
rules have been laid down in Commission Implemen ting Regulation (EU) 2019/1014 (2), (hereinaf ter collectively 
referred to as ‘the minimum requirements’) . Regulation (EU) 2017/625 also provides that Member States are to 
withdra w the designation of the border control post where it ceases to comply with the requirements for the 
designation for all or for certain catego ries of animals and goods for whic h the designation was made. 
(3)  Howe ver, where the withdrawal of the designation was partial because it concer ned a specific categor y of animals 
or a specific catego ry of goods, or all catego ries of animals or all categor ies of goods where the border control 
post was designated for catego ries of animals and goods, Member States should be allowe d to re-designate the 
border control post for those cate gories of animals or goods for which the designation was withdrawn without 
being first required to give the Commission the oppor tunity to carry out controls to verify compl iance with the 
minimum requirements. In such cases, addressing the non-com pliance should not involve actions as extensive as 
those necessar y to designate a border control post for the first time. It is theref ore appropr iate to establish rules 
whereby Member States are allowed to re-designate the border control post for those categor ies of animals or 
goods without being first required to give the Commission the oppor tunity to carry out controls to verify 
compl iance with the minimum requirements. 
(4)  In order to enable the Commission to perform a thorough assessment of the measures taken by the Member 
State to address the non-com pliance that caused the partial withdrawa l of the designation, Member States should 
notify those measures to the Commission. They should only proceed with the re-designation where the 
Commission considers that the measures take n are sufficient to remedy the non-complian ce. 21.6.2019 L 165/4 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     
(1)OJ L 95, 7.4.2017, p. 1. 
(2)Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1014 of 12 June 2019 to lay down detailed rules on minimum requirements for 
border control posts, including inspection centres, and for the format, categor ies and abbreviations to use for listing border control posts 
and control points (see page 10 of this Offi cial Jour nal). (5)  The derogation from the rules of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 concer ning the designation of border control posts 
should only apply where the re-designation take s place within two years from the date of the partial withdrawal 
of the designation. If the re-designation takes place more than two years from the date of the partial withdrawal, 
in order to assess the change s that occur red at the border control posts, the Commission should retain the 
possibility to perform controls to verify that the border control post compl ies with the minimum requirements. 
(6)  Regulation (EU) 2017/625, in certain cases, allows official controls to be perf ormed at control points other than 
border control posts and it requires that those control points compl y with the minimum requirements and the 
requirements for the designation and withdra wal of the designation of border control posts. Theref ore, it is 
appropr iate that the rules of this Regulation, concer ning the re-designation of border control posts also apply to 
control points. 
(7)  Regulation (EU) 2017/625 requires border control posts to be locat ed in the immediate vicinity of the point of 
entr y into the Union. Howe ver, in order to enable the efficient organisation and performance of official controls 
and other official activities, rules should be laid down to specify the cases of specifi c geograp hical constraints and 
the conditions under whic h border control posts can be locat ed at a distance other than in the immediate vicinity 
of the point of entr y into the Union. Geographical constraints should be those that result from the natural 
charact eristics and landscape of the point of entr y, and the distance from the point of entr y should not excee d 
what is strictly necessar y to overcome the difficulties caused by the geographical constraints. Further more, that 
distance should not be such as to pose a risk to human, animal and plant health, animal welfare and the 
environment. Specific geographical constraints should include those that may cause major transpor tation 
constraints like, for exam ple, high passes with roads unsuitable for the mov ement of animals and goods or 
causing significant dela ys in their move ment. 
(8)  Border control posts for imp orts of consignments of unprocessed logs and sawn and chipped wood, often 
operat e under geographical constraints, whic h result from long coastlines or long borders of some Member 
States. As a result of the aforesaid geographical constraints, they are generally only operational at the time of 
performin g official controls. Theref ore, certain exem ptions from the minimum requirements for border control 
posts laid down in Article 64(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 should be established for their designation. 
Nonetheless, in order to ensure the effectiveness of offici al controls and other official activities, compl iance with 
specific conditions should be fulfilled during the performance of those controls and activities by a mobile official 
control team of the compet ent author ity of the border control post. In particular , a mobile official control team 
should be able to provide sufficient and suitably qualifi ed staff and have access to the necessar y equipment at the 
time of official controls or other official activities. 
(9)  The rules required to be established by the Commission in accordance with Article 62(3), Article 64(2) and 
Article 64(5) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 are closely linked since they all concer n derogations or exem ptions 
from certain requirements applicable to border control posts. In order to facilitat e the correct and comprehensive 
application of those rules, whic h should also apply from the same date, it is appropr iate to lay them down in one 
act. 
(10)  As the specif ic empower ments grant ed to the Commission set out in Regulation (EU) 2017/625 begin to apply 
from 14 December 2019, this Regulation should also apply from the same date, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGUL ATION: 
Article 1 
Subject matter 
This Regulation lays down rules concer ning: 
(a)  the re-designation of a border control post or of a control point other than a border control post where the 
designation has been partially withdra wn; 
(b)  border control posts situated at a distance other than in the immediate vicinity of the point of entr y into the Union 
due to specifi c geographical constraints; 
(c)  the designation of border control posts for imports of unprocessed logs and sawn and chipped wood to take 
account of specific geograp hical constraints. 21.6.2019 L 165/5 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     Article 2 
Re-designation of a border control pos t or of a control point other than a border control pos t 
follo wing the partial withdraw al of its designation 
1. By way of derogation from Article 59(3), (4) and (5) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, where a Member State has 
withdra wn the designation of a border control post or of a control point other than a border control post as referred to 
in Article 53(1)(a) of that Regulation, for certain categor ies of animals or goods as a result of non-com pliance with the 
minimum requirements referred to in Article 64(3) of that Regulation or with the detailed rules on the minimum 
requirements laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1014, the Member State may re-designate that border 
control post or that control point (hereinaf ter ‘the re-designation’) in accordance with paragraphs 2 to 5 of this Article. 
2. Prior to the re-designation refer red to in paragraph 1, the Member State shall notify the Commission of the 
measures it has taken to remedy the non-com pliance with the minimum requirements referred to in paragraph 1. 
3. Within a period of one month starting from the date of receipt of the notification, the Commission shall assess 
whether the measures taken are suffi cient to ensure compl iance with the minimum requirements and, within that 
period, it shall inform the Member State of the outcome of its assessment. 
4. The Member State shall proceed with the re-designation only where it has been informed by the Commission, in 
accordance with paragraph 3, that the measures taken by the Member State are suffi cient to ensure compl iance with the 
minimum requirements. 
5. The re-designation in accordance with paragraph 4 may only take place within a period of two years starting from 
the date of the partial withdra wal of the designation refer red to in paragraph 1. 
After that period of two years, the re-designation may only take place in accordance with Article 59 of Regulation 
(EU) 2017/625. 
Article 3 
Border control pos ts situated at a distance other than in the immediate vicinity of the point of 
entr y into the Union 
1. By way of derog ation from Article 64(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, border control posts may be situated at 
a distance other than in the immediate vicinity of the point of entr y into the Union, provi ded that: 
(a)  this is necessitated by specifi c geographical constraints in accordance with paragraph 2, and 
(b)  the conditions laid down in paragraph 3 are fulfilled. 
2. The geographical constraints refer red to in paragraph 1 shall be such as to prevent or restr ict the efficient 
performa nce of official controls and other official activities. 
Those geographical constraints shall consist of one or more of the follo wing: 
(a)  points of entr y with a geographical conf iguration that imp oses major constraints on the transpor tation system; 
(b)  points of entr y subject to recur rent floods in certain periods of the year; 
(c)  mar itime whar ves surrounded by cliffs; 
(d)  border roads whic h cross a high pass; 
(e)  rail transpor t of animals and goods which mak es it necessar y to locat e the border control post at the first station 
stop; or 
(f)  points of entr y with no suitable land to enable the border control post and its facilities to be locat ed in their 
immediate vicinity . 21.6.2019 L 165/6 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN     3. Where a Member States decides to designate one or more border control posts refer red to in paragraph 1, the 
designation shall be subject to compliance with the followi ng conditions: 
(a)  the distance of the border control post from the point of entr y into the Union is commensurate to the need to 
overcome the constraints of geography and it does not go beyond that need; and 
(b)  the border control post and the point of entr y are under the compet ence of the same customs author ity so that 
consignments can be mov ed from the point of entr y to the border control posts without being placed and handled 
under a customs procedure. 
4. The border control post shall be situated at a sufficient distance from establishments or places where animals, 
plants, plant products or other objects, which are suscep tible to being infect ed by transmissible diseases or pests, are 
kept or grown. 
Article 4 
Exemptions for border control pos ts for impor ts of unprocessed logs and saw n and chipped wood 
1. The exemption provi ded for in paragraph 2 shall apply to border control posts which, due to the long coastline or 
borders of the Member State concer ned, only operat e at the time of performi ng controls on consignments of 
unp rocessed logs and sawn and chipped wood (‘the border control posts concer ned’). 
2. Member States may designat e the border control posts concer ned and exem pt them from the oblig ations refer red 
to in Article 64(3)(a), (c) and (f) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, provi ded the followi ng conditions are fulfilled: 
(a)  arrange ments are in place to prevent at all times any undetect ed entr y into the Union of consignments of 
unpro cessed logs and sawn and chipped wood; 
(b)  the border control post concer ned has access to a suffi cient number of suitably qualified staff in the form of 
a mobile official control team of the compet ent author ities, able to reach the border control post concer ned before 
the arrival of the consignments to perform official controls on unpro cessed logs and sawn and chipped wood; 
(c)  the compet ent author ities' mobile official control team provid es or has immediat e access to: 
(i)  the equipment, premises and other facilities referred to in Article 64(3)(c) of Regulation (EU) 2017/625; and 
(ii)  the technology and IT equipment referred to in Article 64(3)(f) of that Regulation. 
Article 5 
Entr y into force and application 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day follo wing its publication in the Official Journal of the European 
Union. 
It shall apply from 14 December 2019. 
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member State s. 
Done at Brussels, 12 Marc h 2019. 
For the Commission 
The President 
Jean-Claude JUNCK ER  21.6.2019 L 165/7 Official Jour nal of the European Union EN