G/SPS/GEN/1763  
 
3 March  2020 
(20-1590) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
NEW OFFICIAL CONTROL S REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION – COMPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION  
COMMUNICATION BY THE  EUROPEAN UNION  
The following communication , received on 2 8 February 2020, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegations of the European Union . 
 
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Last year the European Union shared information with WTO Members, on Regulation (EU) 2017/625 
on official controls and other official activities  performed to ensure the application of food and feed 
law, rules on animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products (“OCR”), adopted 
on 15 March 2017 (G/SPS/GEN/1692).  
 
1  REGULATORY ACTS  
1.  In the said communication, reference was made to a number of delegated and implementing acts 
planned to be adopted under the OCR. Those acts, 33 in total, have now been adopted and published 
in the Official Journal of the European Union.  
2.  A detailed list of the acts, including links to the legal texts pu blished in the portal “EURLEX”, 
may be found at the European Commission’s website: 
https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/oc_qa_ocr egulation_20191212_delegated_implemented
_acts_en.pdf .  
3.  The vast majority of  the acts adopted relate to the new system for border controls on animals, 
plants, food and feed entering the E uropean Union. The OCR and its implementing measures 
establish a more integrated approach, as common rules now apply to controls carried out at b orders 
on animals, products of animal origin, plants and other products and goods that must be checked 
before they enter the E uropean Union. New rules have also been developed for wood packaging 
material entering the Union with any kind of consignment.  
4.  The new import control system is more risk -based, targeted and harmonised than before, 
including all major aspects of the food chain. Common requirements for facilities, equipment and 
staff qualifications will apply throughout all border control posts. All co nsignments to be presented 
at the border control posts must undergo documentary checks, while identity and physical checks 
will be carried out at a frequency depending on the risk linked to the specific animals or goods. 
The common criteria to determine an d modify the frequency of identity and physical checks have 
been established in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2129.  
5.  In addition, a single standard document, the Common Health Entry Document (CHED), will be 
used by operators for the prior not ification of consignments. It will be transmitted to the border 
control post through a new integrated computerised system for official controls (Integrated 
Management System for Official Controls, IMSOC) which will optimise the digital handling and 
exchang e of information, data and documents necessary for the enforcement of agri -food chain 
rules.  G/SPS/GEN/1763  
 
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  2  TRANSITIONAL PERIODS  
6.  Similar to  the OCR, most new provisions laid down in these acts are applicable since 
14 December  2019. However, for certain matters transitional periods have been established as 
follows.  
− For composite products, current rules on import checks in Directive 97/78/EC wi ll remain 
applicable until 20 April 2021.  
− For plant health checks at control points other than border control post, current rules in 
Directive 2000/29/EC will apply until 13 December 2020.  
− For the frequency of plant health checks at border control posts, current rules in Directive 
2000/29/EC will apply until 13 December 2022.  
 
3  TRANSPARENCY  
7.  The OCR regulation and all its delegated and implementing acts have been notified to 
WTO Members under the WTO SPS Agreement.  
8.  As an additional means to raise awareness a bout the new rules on official controls, a conference 
called “Smarter rules for safer food and plant health” was organised in Brussels on 
13 Decembe r 2019. The conference, which also addressed the new EU legislation on plant health, 
attracted more than 400  participants, including from trading partners, from all over the world. 
The recording of, and material from, the conference is to be found at: 
https://webcast. ec.europa.eu/smarter -rules-for-safer-food-and-plant-health -gasp 
(password:  ZsK587MyT).  
9.  Further information is available on the website of the European Commission , 
https://ec.europa.eu/fo od/safety/official_controls_en . 
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